This is southwest Florida.

And focus coming up, providing hope to single mothers as the needs for single parent homes grow.

One group has been delivering reassurance for more than a quarter of a century.

Christmas has come early for some and called your county as a mass adoption event unites families right before the holidays and the role of the artist in the age of artificial intelligence.

How the use of computer programs creates new questions.

When we define art.

Hello, everyone.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Mike Walcher.

There's a growing trend happening across Florida.

A rise in single parent homes.

According to the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group.

Roughly 38% of children live with a single parent.

Over 80% of those single family homes are headed by a mother.

And the Africa reports that over 1.1 million Florida children are in families receiving public assistance.

Southwest Florida is feeling this issue as well.

And one organization is celebrating 25 years of helping teenage mothers and their children.

Like many nonprofits, they depend on determination, spirit, and just plain love for those in need.

Get it, Melanie.

Get it.

For a quarter century, mothers like 17 year old Kai Wilson and the children, like her daughter Melanie, have found safety at our mother's home.

If I wasn't here, I'd probably be on the streets.

Wilson says she ran away from her family home two years ago and got pregnant.

Now, being a child herself and learning to be a parent to another child.

Well, she says, it's like nothing else.

It's hard, funny, scary.

Really scary.

I guess you just keep going for them.

The present home in this converted office building in Fort Myers opened a year ago.

Kai and six other moms under 18 have rooms on the main floor.

Three mothers over 18 and their children live upstairs.

Staff members are here round the clock to help moms learn to be good parents.

I was a teen mom.

Yes.

Believe it or not, I had my first son at 18 years old.

Angela meadows is the executive director.

And I know that having support, love and guidance made all the difference for me to be successful.

And so that's why I do what I do.

The home has a place for family style dinners, and each mom has to prepare dinner once every ten days.

There's a boutique to ensure the moms look good for school or work, and the Stork Room supplies clothes and toys for the children.

The home never lacks moms in need, as the teen pregnancy rate remains high.

And Meadows says trafficking of girls is a major problem.

We have had a young person who had been trafficked for at least 3 or 4 years.

By the time we got her, she was only 13, had not been in school for three years.

And then, just happened to be in a situation where, she had a baby.

So each situation is different, but they're all very traumatic.

Most moms attend Lee Public Schools young parent education classes.

Their babies stay in daycare on campus.

19 year old Nicholas Cardona and some other home residents work jobs.

Cardona, whose daughter Maria attends pre-kindergarten.

She's happy, so she's going to school every day and working.

So to save my money when I'm when I'm 21, I leave to find a new place to go.

What you see is maybe somebody who comes in broken or comes in being abused or dealing with trauma, and then somebody who leads with a sense of self-worth, accomplishment and just hope that they can do and be anything.

This nonprofit gets money from state government and from local donors.

It's holding a gala in January to celebrate 25 years and raise some money.

Kai Wilson says she'll graduate high school next spring and hopes to be a nurse to make a life for herself and Melody.

I just hope I could do good for her that my mom did for me, to be honest.

I hope that she gets everything she wants and need.

By my.

Kevin Smith was our photographer on that story.

Our Mother's home will have its anniversary celebration on January 15th at the Burroughs home and Gardens in Fort Myers.

And for more information, please head to our website gq.org.

The video game industry generated an estimated $190 billion in global revenue last year.

That's according to the International Trade Administration.

But who's manning the controller might surprise you.

The average age of a video game player is now 36 years old.

And an increasing number of women have joined him.

That, according to a report from the Entertainment Software Association, or ESA.

WGCUs Sandra Victorova has the details on this change in gaming demographics.

So I know your research also looked at women.

Is this new?

So the Entertainment Software Association has been talking to Americans about their relationship and behaviors with video games for over two decades.

And at the lowest percentage of women playing video games.

When we first started asking people, it was still about a 3,070% split.

Men, women, 30% women and 70% men.

So I do think there is, a perception that it's been predominantly men forever.

When in reality it was never 90% men, 10% women, right?

But increasingly over the decades, we've seen those numbers come closer and closer together.

And now it's roughly 50, 50%.

One thing that I found really fascinating in this global research we did we talked to more than 24,000 players in 21 different countries across, six, you know, six, inhabited continents.

And in the majority of those countries, the percentage went the other way.

More women played than men, actually.

And so I do think that, it's really demographics are changing.

And our stereotypes, those perceptions are in fact outdated today.

And are women playing different kinds of games that tend to be more on the phone versus maybe, you know, the, you know, the controller games that I'm thinking of.

We used to have to go out and buy a console, right.

And then individual cartridge games, every time we wanted to play something new.

Technology has changed a lot over the past 40 years, and pretty much all of us have a video game console in our pocket.

Now on our smartphone or on the tablet that we travel with us.

And so certainly I have seen this adoption.

We have seen this adoption of video games by people who may not have invested in consoles before, but maybe they grew up playing Minesweeper or Solitaire on their home PC.

Those are video games, and now they're able to play monopoly.

Go or Candy crush or Words with Friends or Turtles on their smartphone.

And so I think when you look at the changing demographics, the evolving, change in who plays video games, a big part of it just has to do with accessibility and affordability.

And that's a good thing if more people can experience the benefits of play.

Is there data that really shows that there is a benefit for seniors in gaming?

Yes, yes.

And there is an increasing growing body of research that talks about the benefits of video games for truly all generations.

They've looked at it for kids, but they've also looked at it for seniors.

I think when you, when you visualize, an aging person's experience, we often hear about social loneliness, the loneliness epidemic, cognitive decline, some of these other, things that social risks that are not unique to, but increasingly, seen in older audiences.

One of my favorite research facts from, the Essential Facts report from the ESA this year was that a third of the Silent Generation play video games every week as Avi and older.

You're my parent.

My lovely parents, who are in their 70s are visiting me this week.

They're here in DC.

And, you know, my mom sits down and she's playing games on her tablet.

And I see my dad's doing, you know, different games on his computer in between meetings.

You know, my my parents really want to age gracefully so they can continue to play with kids and grandkids, and they really experience the benefits, the mental benefits, of video games.

And that is backed by science.

There's great research showing that it's good.

It allows for community and social connection, and that a lot of the time, the benefits, if you're playing online with someone else for our older players, match as if they were playing in person.

So if it's harder to get out, harder to get around, you know, maybe the right thing for grandma and grandpa is a console that lets them play with people they wouldn't otherwise be able to play with, because they can't move as easily as they used to.

Aubree Quinn with the Entertainment Software Association.

Thank you so much for your time.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Coming up.

Finding the perfect home for the holidays.

The event that gave an early present to a dozen Collier County families.

According to the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Nearly 4000 children are adopted annually in the Sunshine State over the past few years.

The DCF has streamline the process to eliminate hurdles and allow families to be united at a quicker rate.

Recently in Collier County, a dozen families received the perfect holiday gift by adding a new member to their unit.

WGCUs Culture and Connections reporter Elizabeth Andarge has their story.

This is a ceremony that always touches our hearts.

12 children walked into the Collier County Courthouse Friday morning.

By the end of the day, they all had something they'd been waiting for a family to call their own.

The November 21st adoptions came during National Adoption Month.

So many supporters turned up at the courthouse, but family members had to take turns entering the courtroom.

She was only a couple days old when I first met her, and held her.

And then when I took her home, she was three weeks old.

She was named and then left, basically.

Madison Andrea met her daughter, Ameera, while volunteering as a cuddler at a local hospital, NICU.

She hoped to adopt as a single mother.

Yes.

So I am single, and I'm a, kindergarten teacher right now.

But I just was tired of waiting around for the right person I knew.

I've always been, The joke has been.

I've been the Naples nanny.

So once I got into my career and I was able to, provide for myself and someone else, I decided that this was the journey I was going to take.

She wasn't alone in the journey.

Rodrigo Gamboa had his foster daughter, Sophia, for years before finalizing the adoption, but he made sure to ask his tiny consultants first.

Before we even made the decision between my wife and I as to whether we were going to even consider adopting her.

We actually asked each one of the children individually, how do you guys feel about having Sophia as a sister?

And unanimously it was hands down, yes.

She's already our sister.

You better let her keep being a part of our family.

The need for foster families remain urgent.

Fewer than 100 homes in Collier County are currently fostering children.

Judges mostly see lots of things that are sad or depressing.

The importance is that the community has stepped up and opened their hearts and uplifted to see all these lovely smiling faces and all these precious children.

After all, you know, many, many people that we know from history have been adopted.

You know, starting with Moses.

And so, you know, it's an important right.

And it's an important step for humanity to do that.

For more information on fostering, visit WGCU.org From Naples I'm Elizabeth Andarge.

For 200 years, one of the most beloved works of classical music, Franz Schubert Symphony Number eight was left unfinished.

Its first two movements are celebrated for their beauty and their melancholy, but only a slight sketch of its finale remains.

However, the piece would be revived by Emmy Award winning composer Lucas Contour Santiago, who used artificial intelligence to complete the maestro's unfinished masterpiece.

WGCUs Teddy Byrne sat with Santiago to learn of AI, is here to help or replace the artist.

Well, I am joined by Lucas Cantor Santiago, composer, producer and author of unfinished.

The role of the artist in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

So, Mr.

Santiago, thank you for joining us.

And it's my pleasure.

Thank you for having me.

So I was wondering if you could just explain the role that artificial played in putting the finishing touches on Schubert's Ave Symphony.

It wasn't exactly used to write it, but used more as an analysis tool to help you develop the final parts of the Unfinished Symphony.

Sure.

Well, I mean, what does it mean to write a symphony?

Who?

Who knows?

That's part of the question that underlies the bulk of the question that I it seems like an obvious answer.

And when you sit down to write a symphony and use technology to do so, it becomes very murky.

Who's doing what and what are the technologies doing and what in fact, you as a human being are doing?

The process to use the process that we used to write to finish Schubert's Unfinished Symphony with artificial intelligence was we trained it on, all of the Schubert music that we could get our hands on.

And then we prompted it with the unfinished Symphony, with, to to finish the movements of the Unfinished Symphony and we asked it to generate some melodies, that it thought would flow naturally from, from those, from that prompt, based on what I knew about Schubert's music.

I use no in quotes, but based on what it had analyzed about Schubert's music.

And the results were surprising and interesting and different than I would have expected.

But, I wove those melodies together into a into a symphony that I thought, was stylistically appropriate for not only Schubert, but also for the types of melodies that the AI generated.

And, the result is, is what I call Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, finished with AI.

And I have heard the actual version that you created, and there is a seamless transition, it feels, from Schubert to the piece you created.

Despite having a 200 year separation there.

Yeah.

Well thank you.

I, I, I use some established techniques.

I, I, I use some romantic symphonic techniques.

I borrowed, you know, melodies from the first movement into the third movement and the second movement to the fourth movement, and try to make it coherent in the way that a composer of Schubert's time would have made it coherent.

The melodies themselves were a little bit more modern.

And I think the reason for that, that I, the reason that I told myself at the time was that Schubert died very, very young.

He died at the age of 34, having produced as much music in 18 years as J.S.

Bach produced in 50 years.

He was very prolific and had he continued to, how had you lived to a ripe old age?

There's no indication that he would have slowed down.

And so I think he would have, I think he would have invented I think it would have become more modern.

I think he would have ended up sounding more harmonically like a Tchaikovsky or someone, you know, about 100 years later, I think you would have really prefigured what we now know is I think of as a romantic classical music and, the melodies that the I suggested sort of suggested that to me.

I just thought that was an interesting idea.

So I ran with it, which that actually leads me to one point then to that, because Schubert died at such a young age, you know, you said 31 left a lot of pieces unfinished, including this symphony.

Were there any ethical concerns you had going into this with an artist who in no way knew that a computer could be finishing his work, and at the same time, it kind of might lead to, you know, can his legacy be re curated or replicated without his consent, without having those ethical thoughts in the back of your head?

I have no ethical problem with doing this at all.

And, I don't think that there is any ethical concern.

I mean, Schubert's music, as he wrote it exists.

It is available for study, it is available for purchase, it is available for performance.

And, and neither he nor anyone of his estate is still benefiting from this.

And so I, you know, I didn't see any ethical concern there at all.

The ethical concerns that I have been sort of projected on me is that there's some sort of, that that there's some sort of, that's sacred, that the classical canon is something of the sacred that we should not touch or improve or you know, or mess with in any way.

And I just think that's nonsense.

I think that the canon is a part of human existence, the part of our culture.

It's a part of human arts.

And, to be able to do new and interesting things with it is one of the reasons that is there.

It's one of the reasons that I write music.

I hope that people in several hundred years decide to pick up a piece of my music and do something new and interesting with it.

I would be flattered and honored if that happened.

And I think, had Schubert been at the concert, I don't know if he would have liked what I had done, but I think he would have been happy that I had tried.

Well, your book had a quote that I really did enjoy, which it said, if nature can create man from molecules, surely it can create sentience from silicon.

So as AI continues to grow, advance, get better and better, do you actually see a point where a computer program can develop its own original composition without support from any humans?

So thank you.

I you know, I put that in the book as an example of, as an example of sophistry.

You know, it's a it is alliterative and it sounds like it would be self-evidently true just because, it's a clever turn of phrase, but it is actually meaningless if nature.

I don't know if nature did create man for molecules, and I do not believe that we can create sentience from silicon.

And far from not believing it, I think there is good evidence that we cannot, you know, the the question, the open question that, you know, maybe, AI evangelists would, would pose is that it might not matter if we create something that is sentient, as long as we create something that seems like it is sentient or can behave as if it is sentient.

And, you know, maybe someone will make that someday, maybe they won't.

I I'm not optimistic, given the current state of artificial intelligence.

I don't think that humans being replaced by robots, especially in the arts, is inevitable.

I think it's actually kind of far fetched and ridiculous, frankly.

Because art is communication between two people.

So, you know, I think human beings using, you know, two or more people, but, I think human beings using art, sorry, you in these using machines to create art is something that happens today and will continue to happen in the future.

And what the technology that we use to create art is will change and has changed.

But, the idea that, that another that, another that, a piece of tech will create art, you know, exclusively or that art will be just sort of farmed out to technology.

I mean, it seems ridiculous on its face.

I don't know why, as a society, we take it so seriously, but that's that's my thought on it.

Well, the book is unfinished.

The role of the artist in the Age of artificial intelligence.

Lucas Cantor Santiago, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.

It was a pleasure.

Thank you for having me.

Exploring the Everglades like the early Southwest Florida adventurers.

After the break, we'll take a look at the history and the evolution of the swamp buggy.

It's a throwback to the old style of Florida living the swamp buggy.

Early Everglades pioneers built these vehicles to traverse the boggy swamps in southwest Florida.

Now, a new documentary, Swamp Buggy Fever, is coming to WGCU this January.

It details the connection between the region and the one of a kind vehicles.

WGCUs Janine Zeitlin introduces us to one family who ensures the history of the swamp buggy is maintained for generations to come.

So this is Mr.

Pogo, built by Ernie Carroll, my grandfather, and the parts of it are all sorts of different ages.

But when the parts all came together was in 1953, the year before I was born.

Mr.

Pogo is named for a comic strip popular in the mid century when swamp boogie fever hit Naples, Florida.

Settlers crafted buggies so they could explore the Everglades without getting stuck.

Ray Carroll's grandfathers took him on their buggies for hunting trips.

As a boy of 9 or 10 years old, that was a wonderful thing to do, to be with your grandfathers and to play with them.

Cindy Carroll is one of Ray's younger sisters.

I didn't like being left behind.

I grew up between two brothers, and I thought the things that they were doing were far more interesting than the things that the women were doing.

The Carroll's traced their roots in the region to the 1890s, when Cindy and Ray were children.

Naples was a small town.

Each year, more people discovered it as their Paradise.

The Naples that I grew up in is almost gone now.

When your family's been in or 125 years.

It's a little hard to be patient sometimes, because you've had to live with so much change and find the good in it.

Swamp buggies connect Ray and Cindy to their memories and what this region used to look like.

If you lose that connection to the land.

I don't know that you can go get back again.

So I don't want to have to figure that out.

In the 1990s, Ray and some family and friends bought private property within the catchy strand.

As soon as we got the first piece, we had the right to go to and from it.

And that preserved our swamp, right?

And that location is within a mile of where I camped most often with my grandfathers when I was in the woods.

But Ray's buggy Mr.

Pogo could only carry so much.

Cindy decided to buy a buggy of her own.

Growling gurdy.

That's the name of the buggy.

That's because when you listen to her gears, they growl.

And for me personally, it was an achievement.

Okay.

The boys had.

The men did this.

I found out that I was fairly competent.

Anything you do, that's new, and you feel like you're just in sync with it, and you go, damn, I can.

I can do this.

Mr.

Pogo is more than a machine for Ray, too.

He'd say a talisman.

It's, Owning and operating the swamp buggy.

And especially doing it in on country that is almost identical to what I remember.

Helps me remember who I think it.

Ray's grandson, Austin, is almost ready to drive Mr.

Pogo, making him the fifth generation at the wheel.

However, I'm tall enough now, definitely to reach it.

Oh yeah, I know.

This is the summer.

Parts of the buggy are coming up on 100 years old.

Dale.

I'm still using it and will until one of us freaks.

And be sure to tune in to Swamp Buggy Fever.

It airs Thursday, January 22nd at 830 here on WGCU TV You can also watch it on WGCU.org or on the WGCU app.

Coming up next week is time to finalize your New Year's resolutions.

And we're going to learn how you can be taking those promises throughout all of 2026.

Thank you for joining us.

Make sure to download the WGCU app or visit WGCU.org where you'll find all of our stories, plus extended interviews.

We want to wish all of you a happy holiday, and we hope to see you back here in the New year.

On Southwest Florida and focus.