Helping caregivers use AI in everyday life

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 10, 2026 OpenAI Academy is bringing free, in-person ChatGPT workshops to caregivers in five U.S. cities, pairing the company with three health and caregiving nonprofits during National Family Caregivers Month. The AI Skills Jam for Caregivers & Community Health is meant to show family caregivers how to use ChatGPT for routine support tasks while keeping a close eye on safety and limits.

What is OpenAI announcing for caregivers?

OpenAI says the AI Skills Jam for Caregivers & Community Health will give caregivers hands-on help using ChatGPT in everyday life. The company says the workshops are free, in person, and designed to help people use the tool confidently, safely, and practically.

The event is scheduled for November 10 and is being run with Caregiver Action Network, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the American Diabetes Association. OpenAI says the sessions will be held in Oakland, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Detroit.

Event	AI Skills Jam for Caregivers & Community Health
Date	November 10, 2026
Format	Free, in-person workshops
Cities	Oakland, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Detroit
Partners	Caregiver Action Network, Alzheimer’s Association, American Diabetes Association
OpenAI guidance	Hands-on support, no coding required

Why does OpenAI say the timing matters now?

OpenAI is tying the rollout to National Family Caregivers Month and to a large care burden already in place across the country. The company says caregiving often means juggling schedules, tracking information, and finding support while balancing work and family life.

OpenAI also cites an internal analysis that estimates more than 40 million weekly ChatGPT messages about healthcare in the U.S. ask about healthcare for someone else. That is the company’s case for why a caregiver-focused workshop series makes sense now, even as the demand for care keeps rising.

AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving say 63 million Americans are family caregivers, nearly one in four adults. Their 2025 report also says only 22 percent receive training for complex medical tasks, a gap that helps explain why a workshop built around plain-language support and scheduling help may draw attention.

What will caregivers actually learn?

OpenAI says participants will get practical examples of how ChatGPT can help with day-to-day caregiving work. The first goal is not coding, it is routine organization, clearer information, and peer learning in local settings.

According to OpenAI, the workshops will cover caregiver schedules and checklists, plain-language versions of trusted educational resources, community resource searches, and support group discussion guides. The company says facilitators and mentors will be on hand, and that participants can practice alongside peers who face similar pressures.

OpenAI says the sessions will also cover responsible use. That includes protecting personal information, understanding tool limits, and knowing when to consult healthcare professionals because AI should complement, not replace, medical, legal, or financial advice.

Who stands to gain from this effort?

Caregivers are the immediate audience, but the benefits extend to support organizations and community health groups as well. OpenAI is betting that a live, local format will make the tool less abstract and easier to use in real life.

For caregivers, the promise is less time spent sorting through schedules and information, and more time focused on the person receiving care. For partner groups, the upside is a chance to shape how AI guidance lands with families that already rely on them for trusted information.

OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane framed the goal this way: “AI is a tool for people to have more control over their lives and their families’ lives.” He added that the company wants caregivers to build the skills and confidence to use these tools safely and practically.

What are the limits and risks here?

The main risk is simple: ChatGPT can sound certain even when it is wrong. OpenAI says the model can produce incorrect or misleading outputs, including fabricated quotes, studies, citations, or references to non-existent sources.

That matters for caregivers because health, legal, and financial questions carry real stakes. OpenAI’s own workshop guidance says AI should not replace professional advice, and its help pages say users should verify important information from reliable sources.

There are also data-handling limits to keep in mind. OpenAI says temporary chats do not appear in chat history, do not create or update memories, are not used to improve OpenAI models, and may be retained for up to 30 days for safety purposes. On personal workspaces with ChatGPT Free, Plus, or Pro, data sharing is enabled by default, although users can turn off model improvement and keep chat history.

One further caveat: if a user sends feedback after opting out of training, OpenAI says the full conversation tied to that feedback may be used to train its models. That is the kind of detail caregivers should understand before entering personal health information into any AI tool.

What comes next for OpenAI Academy?

The caregiver workshops fit into a broader OpenAI Academy push to make AI usable outside the tech crowd. OpenAI says the program builds on earlier events with nonprofits, small businesses, K-12 educators, and older adults.

That older-adult work is a useful precedent. In a separate Academy event with Older Adults Technology Services from AARP, OpenAI held free, in-person AI Skills Jams for older adults in 10 communities, showing that the company is using the same workshop model across different age groups and community needs.

For now, the caregiver rollout is more local training than grand promise. The test is whether a few hours in a community room can make ChatGPT useful for the people carrying one of the country’s heaviest unpaid jobs.