Our AI Policy

Our Artificial Intelligence Policy

 

Your trust is essential and must be earned through our ongoing transparency in these times of rapid change. 

As creators, our opinion is that stolen human work is being sold back to us in AI form. 

Not cool, tech bros…

Our opinion is that AI technology is being infused without our consent into basic software and search that we all depend on. 

Thus, there is no getting away from AI.

Our challenge is to define ethical use of an unethically-built technology.

 

So, here is what’s made by people in our company, what’s made with the help of AI tools, and why.

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The Role of People

People are primary, people are the creatives, and people are in charge at Vivid Cottage.

 

People lead the business.

Vivid Cottage was founded by Kerstin Rao, a retired teacher in Westport, Connecticut, in May 2021. Right now, Kerstin is the sole proprietor and employee, but even as we grow, people will always have the final say in all decisions.

 

People create the art

Kerstin creates her fine art the old-fashioned way: by hand, using materials like paper, pencil, ink, charcoal, pastel, colored pencil, etc. Her creation, vision, and voice are central to everything we do. Kerstin also loves to write. You’ll feel her sincere and sometimes silly self in her writing.

Connecting and sharing our human experiences is what makes a life worth living.

We won’t let any cyber-junk mess that up.

 

People make our products here in the US.

Vivid Cottage was founded in 2021 with a commitment to US-based manufacturing of our products. Kerstin’s Grandpa Eugene and Grandma Alice were factory workers in Detroit. Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Esther were a doctor and a teacher in the Twin Cities.

All four of them were proud of what they made and contributed to our country.

In that spirit, we are proud to support American workers.

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The Role of Artificial Intelligence

Our philosophy is for humans to come up with ideas first, then, if it’s sensible, use AI tools for help with mundane tasks. We continue to learn how to protect our intellectual property as well as safeguard the privacy of our customers.

 

The AI Tools We Use:

Google AI during search for those quick summaries at the top of the page.

Google Analytics to understand data so we can serve you better.

ChatGPT to refine marketing.

Gemini in Google Workspace tools like docs, sheets, etc.

Intuit AI in our accounting software.

Wix website AI tools for updating our site.

 

Updated 7-7-2025