How’s it going, guys? Jess and I just got back from our vacation, and we’re catching up on everything going on. I know there’s a lot to talk about, and I’m not going to beat around the bush. Jess and I were not involved in the images posted to our storefront that contained AI. These came from processes within Catface that clearly failed, AI should have never been used and I am personally looking into it. This comes on the tail of the issue with one of our characters’ skin tones being depicted incorrectly again. I’m not happy either, but it’s no one’s fault but my own. We have a large team, and the industry has been pressing us to move faster and faster after YouTube made changes to our revenue streams last fall. It’s no one’s fault, but the responsibility of making ends meet falls on my shoulders. I’ll be blunt. It has been difficult to guarantee the quality of the stories we promised with the way things have been going. This is why you’ve seen more merchandise catering toward the stories fanbase. Even then, we worry that it won’t be enough, so we’ve made some of the mainstream stories merchandise approachable to all of our audience. I’ve even gone as far as cutting my salary in half for all of 2026 so we can keep as much of our team together as possible. This was communicated to my staff last fall when we realized the situation we were in. In terms of AI, Catface does use it, but not in the ways you imagine. I do not want to go into details because it involves our IP, but it is only used in the production of the SMP videos because of the pace we post at. It is used for ideation and production tool creation so our staff can maintain their timelines. Our video production staff work their tails off and I do not feel that these tools are used in a way that detracts from the creativity they put into their work. They are extremely talented and we're only able to return to our stories because of them.
