This really made me think that the distinction is not age, but rather the people who have ever used computers to create things, and those who use smart phones as a source of entertainment only.
People who create things, have a sense of the time and effort that goes into making something meaningful. So most of the 'hackers and makers' on HN fit into that and show a disdain for GenAI generated content. We've even coined the term AI slop for it.
OTOH if you don't create things, or at least don't create digital things (writing, code, whatever), then you probably don't care if something is AI or not.
From the typical HN POV the rise of LLMs and GenAI has been a seismic shift and there's been debate ad nauseum about the ethics, safety, and capabilities of these tools.
Grandma has done none of that reading, writing or thinking about this technology.
To grandma it's basically an extension of gifs and emojis and memes, silly little novelty distractions.
Yeah, when I listen to the videos my mother is watching on Facebook, 90% of the content is narrated by a bot. I'd imagine AI content is also super popular on TikTok. Folks on HN should keep in mind they are not representative of the average person when it comes to tech.
My Nonna unironically loves the AI Jesus gifs and AI gifs of dogs washing babies.
Many elderly people, I think, don’t know or care if an image is AI generated.