AI Usage

1. Where We Stand

This statement describes where AI is part of our process and where it is not. "AI" now covers a wide range of technology, from features built quietly into everyday software to AI assistants people work with directly.

Saying we never use AI wouldn't be true. Saying we fully embrace it wouldn't be either. For any business working digitally today, some use is unavoidable. This page is our good-faith effort to be transparent about our work and to protect the integrity of the stories behind it.

2. How We Use It

AI is part of our everyday work in two forms: features built into the software we already use, and AI assistants we work with directly. We use them for:

• Organization. Project management, notes, spreadsheets, and planning. Every decision about a project, from scope to schedule, is made by us.
• Writing. Drafting, refining, and proofreading text for websites, captions, and project materials. A person reviews and approves every word before it's published.
• Post-production. Features built into our editing software, such as transcription, audio cleanup, and masking. The editing itself, every cut and creative choice, is done by us.
• Coding. Writing, structuring, and checking code, including security hardening, search optimization, accessibility testing, and performance and analytics setup. AI assistants write much of the code. The design, the decisions, and the responsibility for how it works are ours, for as long as the site is live.

3. What You See Is Real

Our films are built from real footage of real people and places, captured on location. Refining footage in post-production (color, sound, cleanup, masking, and effects) is part of all digital filmmaking. Much of today's editing software uses machine learning inside those everyday tools, often without calling it AI, so the line between editing and AI isn't always clear.

Our craft comes from years of learning the way most people in our field do: through practice, manufacturer documentation, community forums, and the knowledge others have shared in writing and on video. The ideas, the stories, and the creative decisions behind our work come from people. Our line is this: we do not create footage, voices, photographs, or music from text prompts, and we will never present generated content as something that was filmed or recorded.

4. Sources and Collaborators

A finished project often includes work from others. Music, sound effects, and occasionally stock or archival footage come from licensed libraries, and many projects involve artists and collaborators beyond our own team. We look for sources whose work is made by people, and we work with collaborators we know and trust.

Even so, we can't personally verify how every licensed track, sound, or clip was made. We rely on the standards of the people and companies we work with, and we do our best to choose and feature authentic work.

5. AI and This Website

Whether to block AI crawlers is a genuine trade-off for any business online. Blocking them can keep a site's content out of some AI systems, but it also limits how people find that business through AI-powered search, which increasingly overlaps with everyday search. We haven't restricted them, and this site stays open to search engines and AI assistants for now. We'll revisit that as things change.

6. Questions

As these tools and the conversation around them change, we'll update this statement. Questions are welcome at [email protected].