Life The future is here U.P. Yarbo dealer reflects on business November 13, 2026 3 min read Mike Gaunt, who operates his Yarbo dealer business out of Chassell, poses with one model of the Yarbo automated lawn equipment robot, outside of The Gazette office. Trending CHASSELL -- A balance between existing and thriving is something Mike Gaunt had said he always dreamed of. Now, six months into his tenure as a Yarbo equipment dealer, Gaunt is trying to spread his dream to the people of the Western Upper Peninsula and beyond. Gaunt lives in Chassell. He operates Keweenaw Robotics from his residence and is a certified Yarbo dealer and repairman. Gaunt is also the Assistant Director of the Phoenix House in Calumet Township. "I can always do a side hustle, do a second job, get more money," he said. "But I can't get a second life to have more time.
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On a November morning in Phoenix, a software company decided to publish its own report card. Lofty, a real estate technology firm, released what it calls the industry's first AI index — a monthly tally of the tasks its AI completes for real estate agents and the hours those agents supposedly get back. In October 2026 alone, the company says its AI finished 1.13 million tasks and saved agents more than 130,000 hours. The core question for anyone outside the industry is simple: what does an "AI index" actually measure, and can you trust the numbers? The short answer is that the Lofty AI Index measures time — minutes AI spent on work an agent would otherwise do by hand, priced against how long that work takes a person. It is a company measuring its own product, which is both the index's value and its main caveat. What the Lofty AI Index actually counts According to Markets Insider, the index is built on tracking what agents actually do and how AI changes that activity.
