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SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | APRIL 2026 7 By eresa Rossetti, Resident By now most of us should be accustomed to hearing or reading about the advances in AI (Artificial Intelligence). But how does it affect us? Since it automates repetitive tasks, it can help people get things done faster and with fewer mistakes. is is especially useful in manufacturing, finance, and even healthcare. It can condense a lot of data to help us find patterns or answers to everyday questions. Have you asked Siri, Alexa, or Google recently how to hard boil the perfect egg? I have. AI helps you drive your car, maybe even park it; helps you pick out movies, TV shows or books you want to check out, or even be that friendly little chatbot that makes customer service questions easier to resolve (my opinion is still out on that last one). What about the disadvantages? Automation can, and most likely will, lead to job losses in certain fields, thereby forcing people to learn new skills. is can be hard for many currently in the workforce. Seniors may not be able to adapt as quickly as those pesky 20-year-olds who have been attached to their devices since birth. I remember quickly learning new skills while I was working. I'm pretty sure that speed has slowed down a lot lately. I can't even keep track of what number on the dice we're supposed to roll at Bunco! Building and keeping AI systems working is expensive. is can make it harder for small businesses to survive. AI can also be extremely nosy. It requires a lot of personal data, some of which I'm sure we don't care to share with an automated system. ere have been numerous data breaches reported in the last few years. en there is the fact, not my opinion, that AI systems may have absorbed biases from the data that they received. Beware the old saying: "Garbage in, Garbage out." Want a horror story about AI? Our 14-year-old grandson told me one of his good friends used AI to write an essay that was 60% of his grade. Not only did his teacher fail him, but his parents were notified as were all the kids in the school. To close out, have you read any book recently that contains an AI disclaimer? Major platforms like Amazon require disclosure if AI-generated content was used, while publishers like Penguin Random House are adding clauses to prohibit using AI to steal the intellectual property of the author. Authors worry that this would lead to books being published under their name that they did not write. I can't vouch for you, but I prefer the trash I read to have been written by an actual, living, breathing person! AI: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

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