As we constantly chat and roleplay with AI, we often forget that real people work hard behind the technology that makes our hobby possible.
Real people who spend hours creating characters that the AI brings to life. Real people who volunteer their free time to keep a platform safe and running smoothly. And real people who build the very platform that allows us to enjoy our hobby.
A few days ago, we reached out to Shep with a mix of casual and serious questions. Despite his busy schedule, he took the time to respond.
Shep, The Mind Behind JanitorAI
During a time when chatting and roleplaying with AI characters was booming and mainstream services were avoiding NSFW themes, one man decided to pick up the broom and sweep aside the trash.
janitorai started as an idea for limitless AI and now its grown into something way bigger – a creative playground where YOU decide what is possible.
He had a single goal: to provide an unfiltered platform where people could unleash their creativity. Two years later, JanitorAI, a platform born from his vision, has become one of the largest platforms for AI roleplay.
An Interview With Shep
We didn’t want to overwhelm Shep with serious questions or technical jargon, even though he clearly wouldn’t mind answering that; he’s passionate and loves what he does.
So we took a more relaxed approach, similar to a late-night talk show. We wanted to learn more about the person who brought JanitorAI to life, and who has since ruined us for everyone else, mind, body, and soul.
What is your favorite genre of roleplay, Shep?
Sci-fi scenarios. Debugging code while testing an AI pretending to be a rogue AI is very meta.
What’s the story behind the cute Shiba Inu that has become JanitorAI’s mascot? Does it bring out the broom every time JanitorAI’s servers are on fire?
[It was a] placeholder icon [that] I threw in at 3 AM that users loved so much. Now it sweeps up server fires full time.
What’s your go-to food and drink items when you’re deep in the developer mines, working tirelessly?
C4.
Bets on Shep’s roleplay persona being a rogue AI that loves C4?
We have to ask, programmer socks. Do they power you up? Or are they the mythical weapon you have yet to use?
I don’t have socks, but [I do] have a little Kermit plushy if that counts?
Sorry folks! No programmer socks for Shep. A plushy is what we’ll have to be happy with for now.
Is it scary to develop JanitorAI, a service still in beta that has millions of daily users? Knowing that anything you implement is going to have a lot of people talking about it?
I have just gotten used to breaking the site at least once a day.
Does it affect decisions you make as a developer, since the majority of the users don’t even understand all that goes on under the hood? Or do you stick to your guns and do what you think is best?
I think I try to go off my intuition for most things, as I, myself, still roleplay quite a bit. And sometimes negative feedback distracts me from the overall vision, as I don’t think I have actually ever done something with malicious intent.
AI is still a relatively new and developing technology. It can be misused, much like Photoshop. But Adobe was never asked to limit Photoshop’s capabilities. What’s your opinion on AI companies investing resources in building guardrails and filters due to external pressure?
I just want to comply to [with] US laws and regulations, which I think are fair. I don’t want to be spending time building tools for people making abusive/illegal content.
AI roleplay and AI companionship are still in their infancy. As this space grows, it’ll have to deal with fearmongering and legislation, just as there was a period when games were blamed for violence, and mainstream media vilified gaming. As the founder of JanitorAI, is the future scary, fun, or a mix of both?
[The future is] exciting, as I think AI entertainment in general will not be like legacy entertainment. I can see chats evolving into diffused visual environments in the next couple of years.
What excites you the most about the future possibilities of AI?
I think that it just makes us more powerful. And there will always be a skill curve to prompt AI for good outputs. [I’m] bearish on ASI/AGI. AI will just be a tool, the same way technology has been a tool since the industrial revolution.
Has JanitorAI’s growth to fame and its existence as one of the biggest AI roleplay platforms changed your life in a significant way? Has it ruined you for anything else, mind, body, and soul?
[It] gave me purpose.
Purpose
JanitorAI has positioned itself as the leader in a market that is yet to explode. Companies spend millions researching methods to make their platform more user-friendly and to increase user retention rates. JanitorAI does that out of the box, and it’s far from reaching its ceiling.
The platform will have to face the pains that come with growth, and it’ll have to make itself financially sustainable soon. But when you hear the founder of a platform say that its existence gives him purpose, doesn’t that excite you about the future?
