💸 I was wasting $564/year and had no idea

🙋‍♀️ Hello to you, friend,

I've been explaining tech to people since I was a teen and AI is the biggest shift I've ever seen. It's changing how people work, save money, stay safe, and raise their kids. And most of the advice out there sounds like it was written for engineers.

Nope. Not here.

I built Splash of AI for you. Every Thursday, one thing to try, one tool to test, one scam to dodge, and one fact that'll make you the smartest person at dinner. No jargon. No hype. Only what you need to know in five minutes.

You could say I'm giving you the inside scoop on AI. Or as I like to call it, artificial insider-gence. (I saw that smile!) Welcome in. Let's go. — Kim

✅ If this landed in your spam or junk folder, drag it to your inbox and add this sender to your contacts. That tells your email provider you actually want this. Otherwise, it'll keep hiding me from you. And trust me, you don't want to miss what's coming next week.

🎯 YOUR AI POWER MOVE

This Week: Use AI to Find Subscriptions You Forgot You're Paying For

The average American wastes about $200 a year on subscriptions they don't even use. And here's the sneaky part. A lot of those charges aren't on your credit card statement. They're hiding inside your phone and Amazon accounts where you never think to look.

Your provider, your app store, your streaming service? They're all counting on you being too busy to check. They literally design it so you forget. It's like a gym membership for your eyeballs. You're paying. You're not going. They're thrilled.

🤳🏼 Start by taking 3 screenshots

(Not sure how? To screenshot on iPhone, press the side button + volume up at the same time. On most Androids, press power + volume down.)

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings > your name > Subscriptions. On Android, open the Google Play Store > tap your profile icon > Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions. Screenshot it.

2. Then go to Amazon.com > Account > Memberships & Subscriptions. Screenshot that.

3. Finally, open your banking app and screenshot your latest statement showing recurring charges.

Now upload all three to your favorite AI Chatbot (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Grok) and paste this prompt.

Fair warning: you might need to sit down for the results. Maybe pour a drink. A cheap one, since apparently you've been funding seven streaming services. I’m embarrassed to tell you how much money I was wasting. Let's just say my unused subscriptions had subscriptions. 😕 

🧮 AI does the math for you

AI caught a streaming service I was paying for through Apple AND through a bundle I already had. It flagged a cloud storage plan I forgot existed. It found cheaper tiers I never switched to. Then it gave me a cut list. I was wasting $47 a month. That's $564 a year for five minutes of effort.

AI doesn't merely list your subscriptions. It does the math you've been putting off for six months. It spots overlaps across three different places that a human eye would miss. You get one cut list, one dollar amount, and zero guesswork.

Your move this week: Take the three screenshots. Paste that prompt. Get your cut list. Cancel what you don't need. Then tell me how much you found here.

Done. Go get your money back. Your wallet called. It misses you.

📻 MY DAILY RADIO FEATURE & PODCAST

Every day, my short radio feature hits 400 stations and podcast platforms.

🇺🇸 For this one, I conducted an experiment. I asked four major AI chatbots if and when the United States would strike Iran. Here are the results.

Spoiler: One of them nailed it. The others were confidently wrong. Like a GPS that says "recalculating" but never actually recalculates.

🔊 Hear it right now on my website, Komando.com.

💼 YOUR AI EDGE

The #1 Skill Employers Want Right Now

LinkedIn dropped their latest data and the #1 fastest-growing skill employers are hunting for is AI Literacy.

Not AI engineering. Not machine learning. Literacy. As in: can you use AI tools to do your actual job faster?

💰 The numbers are wild

Jobs requiring AI skills are growing 7.5% year-over-year even while total job postings dropped 11%. And here's the kicker: people with AI skills on their resume command a 56% wage premium over similar roles without them. Same job. 56% more money. (Let that sink in.)

So here's your action step. Right now, open LinkedIn and paste this into your favorite AI Chatbot:

Takes 60 seconds. Updates the one thing recruiters see first. FYI, 70% of skills used in most jobs will change by 2030. The clock is ticking. And no, you can't ask AI to slow it down. I tried.

💰️ AI DEAL OF THE WEEK

⚠️ THE AI TRAP

That Photo of Your Friend on Facebook? AI Made It

Kathy Metts woke up to a message from a friend asking, "Did you post this?" She hadn't. Scammers had taken a real photo of Kathy from her Facebook page, used AI to place her next to a man she'd never met, and posted a fake story about selling her "uncle's" vehicles.

Her friends believed it. Several sent thousands of dollars to someone they thought was Kathy.

She's now locked out of her own Facebook account. The money her friends sent? Gone. All because of one photo and a dress Kathy wore to a bridal shower. Scammers didn't even spring for a new outfit.

They’re using your own photos to create AI deepfakes of you, and they're doing it in seconds.

🤯 "I HAD NO IDEA"

AI Can Read Your Brain Scan Faster Than Your Doctor

Researchers at the University of Michigan built an AI that reads brain MRI scans in seconds and accurately identifies neurological conditions, flagging which cases need emergency care. Seconds.

Here's the part that stopped me cold. The AI doesn't only read scans. It triages them, pushing critical cases to the front of the line so stroke patients and brain bleeds get seen first instead of waiting in a queue behind routine checkups.

🩻 This isn't replacing doctors

It's making sure the sickest people don't wait behind a paperwork bottleneck. Over one billion people worldwide lack access to neurological care.

AI became the world's fastest second opinion. And it doesn't make you sit in a waiting room reading a magazine from 2019. Or wear that little gown that ties in the back. Nobody looks good in those. Nobody.

That's the kind of AI story that doesn't make headlines but should.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 YOUR AI FAMILY BYTE

The Talk About Using AI for Homework

I'm not going to tell you to ban AI. (Your kid will use it on their phone at a friend's house.) And I'm not going to tell you AI homework is cheating. It's more complicated than that. Kind of like explaining TikTok to your parents. But in reverse. And somehow more awkward.

Here's what teachers actually want you to know: the problem isn't that kids use AI. It's that they use it as a replacement instead of a starting point. The students who are thriving? They ask AI to explain a concept three different ways until they actually understand it. The ones who are struggling? They paste the question, copy the answer, and learn nothing.

✏️ Think of AI like a calculator

Fine to use one. Not fine if you can't do basic math without it. (Looking at you, person who tips 20% by moving the decimal and doubling it because that's all you remember from 7th grade.)

So here's the conversation: "Show me how you're using it. Walk me through what you asked and what you did with the answer." That's it. No lecture. No ban. Simple curiosity.

If they can explain what the AI gave them in their own words, they're learning. If they can't? That's your teachable moment.

🛠️ YOUR TOOL OF THE WEEK

🍌 Gemini Nano Banana 2

KIM’S VERDICT

Google's image generator grew up. Nano Banana 2 is ridiculously fast, follows complex prompts better than the original, and renders actual legible text in images (finally). I tested it myself. Upload a selfie and it'll turn you into a 3D figurine, swap your background, or drop you into a movie poster. It also translates text inside images, which is wild. The free tier does 90% of what you need. Play with this week.

This one's bananas. Peel back the possibilities. (OK I'll stop.)

🫠 WTF (WHAT THE FUTURE)

☕️ Just a quick mug shot

Your barista can’t spell your name, but the camera above them definitely can.

A new AI-powered system is tracking employee productivity in real time, mapping workers’ paths, tagging them by name, counting how many drinks they make, and logging how long customers sit at tables. That couple on laptops? Flagged for camping. That employee? Ranked by cups per hour.

It’s Black Mirror meets private equity earnings call.

Next they'll charge rent for the table. "Ma'am, your venti latte expired 47 minutes ago. Please order again or vacate seat 12B." Version 2.0 probably includes a heart-rate monitor to ensure peak hustle.

Employee of the month? Most steps between the espresso machine and the register. Latte capitalism is officially here, folks. There’s a little brew haha for you.

🗣️ Text / Post This Stat

Jobs with AI skills pay 56% more than the same jobs without them. The #1 skill employers want in 2026 isn't coding. It's knowing how to use AI. Get the weekly playbook free at SplashOfAI.com. Yes, it's free. No, that's not a typo.

🎤 KIM'S TAKE

Why I'm Doing This

You read about AI finding hidden subscriptions, rewriting your LinkedIn, faking your friend's face on Facebook, reading brain scans faster than doctors, and helping your kid with homework.

That was five minutes. Now imagine what you'll know after a year of Thursdays.

I'm not here to turn you into a tech expert. I'm here to make sure you're never the last person in the room to know what's going on. That's been my job for years. AI made it more important.

Drop a rating below and I’ll see you next Thursday. Same bat-time, same bat-channel. Except smarter. And with better liners. (Debatable.)

🦸 Technology has always been about one thing: giving regular people superpowers. AI handed you the cape.

Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily