A 77-year-old passenger has captured the internet’s attention after a fellow traveller discovered him using ChatGPT to work on a business plan for a vertical farming startup during a flight.
A 77-year-old passenger has captured the internet’s attention after a fellow traveller discovered him using ChatGPT to work on a business plan for a vertical farming startup during a flight. The heartwarming encounter was shared by a tech worker on social media, who was seated next to the elderly passenger and noticed him intensely focused on his phone before takeoff. The senior passenger was using an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to develop ideas for his business venture.
Posting under the username @theteknosaur, the tech worker shared pictures of the elderly man and described him as being completely “locked in” on his project. The two eventually struck up a conversation and reportedly spent the rest of the flight chatting, quickly forming a friendship.
But it wasn’t just the 77-year-old’s enthusiasm for technology that caught the tech worker’s attention. His remarkably polite way of interacting with AI also stood out.
The elderly passenger reportedly addressed ChatGPT as “sir”.
“77-year-old grandpa on my flight was cooking up a vertical farming business plan w/ ChatGPT until takeoff. And he calls the AI “sir”… the respect!!” the user wrote. “We yapped the whole flight, now we’re besties. This man is more locked in than all of us.”
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Social media users were amused by the man’s old-school manners, while others applauded his willingness to embrace emerging technology at the age of 77.
Some commenters also viewed the encounter as a reminder that curiosity and innovation are not limited by age.
“Treat others as you wish to be treated. AI responds in some ways depending on how you respond to it. In fact, it’s been shown that abusive communication towards AI does at times result in degradation,” one user wrote in the comment section.
Another commenter took a humorous approach, imagining that the man’s politeness could eventually work in his favour if AI ever turned against humanity.
“He will be spared by AI terminators when they are out to kill humans cause of his politeness to AI,” another user jokingly wrote.