AI Presentation Summary

From the Quarterly Meeting 9/10/26

The information received was interesting and well done.  AI is a topic worth following in the news.  Here are a couple of key takeaways.  

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?  It is software that learns patterns from data to recognize, predict, create, or automate.  Generative AI is artificial intelligence that can generate new content based on a user's request or prompt (think ChatGPT or Google's Gemini AI). AI utilizes agents to complete work.  An AI agent is a software program that executes tasks and can plan steps.  AI agents can also activate other agents to execute tasks for them.  An AI program can run a "swarm" of agents that execute sub-tasks to complete larger, more complex tasks, similar to a project manager delegating work.  

What's the data center controversy?  AI computing relies on massive data centers.  Today's AI data centers have a huge footprint and use huge amounts of electricity (for power) and water (for cooling).  This can lead to power and water scarcity, driving up electricity and water costs in communities with data centers.  Many communities have or are moving to ban new data centers.  Industry experts are confident AI companies will find solutions to shrink their data centers and reduce power/water dependence.