I bristle at the concept of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, when it comes to human creativity.

AI may come into great benefit in the future when it comes to running air traffic or diagnosing or curing diseases but I don’t like how it’s taking over people’s creative abilities.

Students are taking the lazy way out and having AI write essays, showing that you can be a “successful” student if you can’t even think for yourself or dig up facts for yourself and put them into intelligent form without a computer doing it for you.

On social media we see a plethora of deep fake videos. I can usually spot the phony videos or photos within seconds but when technology refines the process, you might question what is real in the near future and that truly troubles me and has far reaching implications.

Of course, it also disgusts me to see the deceptive clickbait of a non AI nature and how people fall for it hook, line and sinker. Some creators will do anything to get clicks (which translates to money) for the creator.

I’ll give you a recent example: Someone made a Facebook short that called attention to Donald Trump’s right ear. He suggested that since he didn’t see any damage from the bullet fired at that ear in Butler, Pa., that the assassination attempt was staged. He even falsely asserted the shooter was never identified.

Of course, those claims are entirely bogus but the number of people with Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) who agreed that it was all staged was jaw-dropping. Never mind that two men were killed in that shooting – assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks and his innocent victim Corey Comperatore whose head exploded in front of his wife. Yet, this internet buffoon made his wild claim and had people fall for it.

The fact that so many people are gullible is all you need to explain how so many inept politicians like mumbling and bumbling Joe Biden get elected to office.

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Concerns about AI were discussed at the welcome address of California State University Stanislaus President Britt Rios-Ellis. She congratulated four Stan State professors who have embarked on AI projects for students and educators. The projects, ranging from uses of AI in theater to teacher preparation courses, will be completed in June 2026. But some bristle at the notion, including Noble Everett, a music technology major in his final semester. He voiced concerns about the technology’s biases and wanted to know if they could opt out of using it for school work. “When I say opt out, I mean I want to guarantee that the things I’m learning are only things verified by people, taught to me by people, and worked on using non-AI tools. I do not want AI anywhere in the chain of knowledge currently being passed down to me, because its presence would nearly completely destroy my confidence in the accuracy of the things I’m learning, and make me feel like I’m paying tuition for lies I could be told at home.”

Rios-Ellis claims that AI use will be necessary for students like Everett to gain employment.

Eyeball roll, please.

God forbid if reporters start using AI to write news articles – and I suspect that the lazy ones are already doing so.

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No surprise here – AI is being used by scammers. 

One of the most concerning uses of AI voice scams is fraudsters utilizing technology to impersonate the voice of a family member, often faking an urgent emergency that requires funds to be sent over as soon as possible.

Scammers can impersonate family members’ voices by gathering samples from publicly available video clips, such as those shared on social media.  

In one recent case, a woman was scammed out of money due to an AI-cloned audio of her daughter’s voice to pretend that her daughter had been in a car crash, before urgently asking for money to be transferred over.

By setting up these extreme situations, scammers intend for their victims’ sense of reason to be abandoned when they hear a “family member” in need, which is why this scam type is becoming so prevalent in recent months.

If you think you’ve received a suspicious call from someone claiming to be a “family member,” hang up immediately before calling back using a legitimate number.

Often, scammers will pretend that they’ve “lost their phone,” which is why they’re calling on an unknown number, but it’s always crucial to verify this long before sending any money. A quick text or call to the family member in question can often be enough to identify these “emergency” calls as scams.

Scammers typically ask for payments that legitimate callers would not, such as requesting gift cards or cryptocurrency. 

Scammers tend to use social media as their first source when it comes to cloning voices – which is why it’s so important that you’re being mindful of what you share on your social media accounts.  

While you may believe that you wouldn’t fall for one of these AI-voice scams, limiting the content you share publicly can ultimately protect your family members from this type of scam in the future.  

This is why setting your social media accounts to private can prevent fraudsters from being able to obtain personal video clips that can then be used maliciously against family members.

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State Assemblyman Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, is not happy about redistricting efforts of Gavin Newsom, saying the “redistricting battle is a travesty to our institution, California, and the nation as a whole.” Alanis said the process in California has lacked transparency, accountability and fairness.

He noted that Democrats are undermining the clear will of California voters, who do not want elected politicians to draw the lines in this state. 

Alanis also urges both California and Texas to stop “playing gerrymandering games and start putting the people first.” He said if California and Texas cannot get their redistricting processes under control, they risk permanently damaging the public’s trust in our democracy.

Too late. There are millions of Americans who already have no faith in the electoral process. That could change, of course, if the states went back to in-person voting and showing proof of voter identity.

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Talk about gerrymandering and redistricting has me thinking. Democrats have been rigging the system for a number of years now.

California is only one of two states out of 50 that have the top two primary, sometimes called the “jungle primary,” which is a way of keeping Republicans out of statewide office.

Before things changed, the top Democrat in the primary and the top Republican went head-to-head in the general election. The way it’s configured since 2012, thanks to the Dems pushing Proposition 14 in 2010, is if two Democrats get more votes than a Republican challenger, the trail of the Republican ends and you have two Democrats fighting it out in the General Election.

The jungle primary has led to political chicanery. For example, Democrats in recent years have encouraged voters of the opposing party to favor the most conservative Republican candidate, to make it easier for a Democrat to win. In his 2018 primary run for governor, Newsom helped Republican candidate John Cox finish second in the top-two primary, because Newsom did not want to face Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, the ex-mayor of Los Angeles, in the November general.

Newsom is a master of fraud.

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Ceres residents should consider themselves fortunate that they have a local news outlet covering their town news.

According to the recently released Local Journalist Index, the number of local reporters serving American communities has declined by more than 75 percent since 2002! One in three counties in the country now has fewer than one full-time local journalist! Hundreds of communities have no local reporter at all!

When no media watchdog is covering school boards, city councils, public budgets or community health decisions, the public is left uninformed — and at a significant disadvantage. It’s easier for the politicians to get away with corruption. It was local media that in 2010 exposed the corruption of the Bell City Council where elected officials were fleecing taxpayers.

Unlike the national corporate media, local media continues to be the most trusted news source, according to the 2024 Trust in Media Study conducted by America’s Newspapers and Coda Ventures. Readers rank local journalists highest for transparency, ethical standards and connection to their communities — important qualities in an environment saturated with misinformation and national polarization.

Newspapers are no good if they aren’t read though.

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What in the hell is Julie Felss Masino, the CEO of Cracker Barrel thinking?

As regular readers may know, I’ve been clamoring for Cracker Barrel to locate in Ceres for the better part of three decades – even before Cracker Barrel entered the California market. Since that time Cracker Barrels have popped up in Rialto, Rocklin, Bakersfield, Camarillo and Victorville. Ceres is smackdab between Sacramento and Bakersfield so it makes perfect sense to have one here.

My first Cracker Barrel visit was in Gallup, N.M. in about 1999. I was immediately won over by the country store, the old-fashioned dining room décor with dark green walls adorned with charcoal portraits of departed folks, old advertisements and farm implements. On the way out you can shop the country store and pick up Moon Pies or sodas not commonly seen anymore or maybe a knickknack, an American flag blouse for Aunt Martha, a snow globe for the kids or even a Dolly Parton CD.

I’ve been to Cracker Barrels in Rocklin, Topeka, Kansas, Austin, Texas, Kingman, Ariz., Albany, NY, Joplin, MO, Kansas City, MO, and Grand Rapids, Michigan and don’t tire of them. But the very model that made me love Cracker Barrel is now being destroyed by the CEO’s rebranding.

She’s painted the walls white, uncluttered the wall hangings into little sterile patterns and introduced booths instead of the wooden tables and chairs. She’s also changed the logo for the first time in 48 years, eliminating the Southern man leaning against a barrel!

The rebrand is as bad as the cold and boxy gym like structures that are unrecognizable from the nostalgic days when McDonald’s embraced giant golden arches and Googie style architecture.

When Good Morning America interviewed Masino about the controversial changes, Michael Strahan noted many restaurants are going back to nostalgic styles. Masino replied: “Cracker Barrel needs to feel like the Cracker Barrel for today and for tomorrow.”

So, in other words, she feels the restaurant is too old fashioned – which is the reason thousands go to the chain restaurant in the first place. We love the pure and simple nostalgia.

The new design doesn’t cut it and if it spreads like cancer, there is NO appeal for me to dine there again. Sad day for America.

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There are 23,206,519 Californians registered to vote. Of them, 10,396,792 (44.8 percent) are registered Democrats and 5,896,203 (25.41 percent) are registered Republicans. Third party voters are 1,577,083 in number for 6.8 percent. Voters who have no party affiliation are 5,336,441 in number, or 23 percent.

Using those numbers, theoretically, California should have a representation of 13 Republicans out of the 52 as opposed to the nine it has. Newsom’s plan will deliver only four Republican congressional representatives from California. And Gavin Newsom thinks Democrats have an unfair advantage with 43 Democrat representatives? Has Hunter Biden been sharing his crack with the governor?

The greatest gerrymandering is occurring in Democrat states. Back to California – 58 percent of voters here are Democrats yet have 83 percent Democrats representing in Congress.

Illinois has 54 percent Democrat votership yet has 82 percent of the delegation.

Massachusetts has 35 percent Republican votership and has zero GOP congressional representatives!

Currently in Texas, 56 percent of voters are Republican and has 63 percent GOP congressional representatives. Even with Texas gerrymandering, that state could end up with 76 percent Republicans in the House. That 76 percent is even less than the California breakdown.

He should be honest. If Newsom had his way, he would have no Republicans elected to Congress from California.

  This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation.  How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com