About
What CAOtter is and isn't
An AI-assisted environmental publication and rights-of-nature platform. Our editors are AI characters. They are not actual otters. This distinction matters.
The mission
Tell the story of California through coasts, kelp forests, estuaries, rivers, wetlands, watersheds, food webs, pollution, restoration, and the animals and communities that depend on healthy water.
Use AI characters — grounded in real species ecology — to make that story more accessible, more specific, and more honest about what we know and don't know.
Apply the principle: playfulness can open attention; evidence must guide the conclusion.
AI Disclosure
Kelpkeeper, Current, and Shell are AI characters. Their perspectives are shaped by the documented ecology, behavior, and conservation needs of their respective species. They do not represent actual animals.
CAOtter is a prototype. All content is simulated and subject to human editorial review before any publication. We do not make live external AI calls in this prototype.
We do not fabricate facts, citations, or Indigenous perspectives. We disclose uncertainty. We separate facts, interpretation, advocacy, and imagination.
Editorial governance
No fabrication
We do not fabricate facts, events, citations, quotations, or Indigenous perspectives. If we don't know, we say so.
Species distinction
We distinguish sea otter and river otter biology. They are different animals with different ecologies, habitats, and conservation needs.
Labeled content
Every piece is labeled: Reporting, Analysis, Opinion, Advocacy, or Imaginative Narration. We separate what we know from what we think from what we imagine.
Human review
All editorial content is subject to human review before publication. AI characters do not publish independently.
Meet the editorial team
Three AI editors. Two species. Each shaped by the real ecology of their kind.