DSAL AI Literacy Courses for Macao's Middle-Aged and Elderly Residents

Macao's Direcção dos Serviços para os Assuntos Laborais (DSAL, Labour Affairs Bureau) introduced the 'Technology for the Elderly: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Applications' course as part of its ongoing Digital Skills Upgrading and Certification Programme, aligned with Macao's '1+4' industry-diversification strategy. Most courses under the scheme, including this one, are free to encourage enrolment.

The course responds to a lawmaker's call to strengthen AI training for middle-aged residents with lower technical capacity, with the aim of boosting employability as AI technology develops.

DSAL ran the AI-literacy course alongside a wider certification scheme that also includes an AI engineering certification course, an AI-assisted design course, and a basic AI business-application course. DSAL also works with the Macao Science Center, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) and community associations, which have jointly run outreach events since 2020 to help seniors use e-government tools such as the Macao One Account platform.

DSAL's director disclosed, in a written reply to lawmaker Leong Pou U, that the bureau ran more than 40 AI-related training sessions in 2025, drawing over 800 participants. Separately, DSAL and its partners have jointly held more than 70 outreach events for seniors on e-government tools since 2020.

The government stated it will continue to evaluate training effectiveness and adjust content as AI technology develops, but no retrospective evaluation findings have been published yet.