Skye Smith serves as the lore keeper for Dropout's 'Dimension 20,' functioning as the game master Brennan Lee Mulligan's right-hand assistant. She describes her role as 'the Google, or Wikipedia, for Dimension 20,' responsible for tracking the show's vast history of timelines and factoids.
The tabletop role-playing live show, produced by Dropout (spun off from CollegeHumor), fills stadiums like Madison Square Garden. Without Smith, Mulligan could not sustain the hours-long games in recorded and live formats. Her position is considered one of the rarest in nerd business.
Smith believes AI will not replace her. She argues that the nuanced, contextual knowledge required to keep a fantasy world consistent demands human judgment. The lore keeper's work involves real-time retrieval and subtle coordination that automated systems cannot replicate.
Industry trends show AI increasingly used for content generation, yet roles requiring deep institutional memory and interpersonal collaboration remain resistant to automation. Smith's perspective highlights a growing debate about which creative jobs AI can genuinely supplant.
Critics contend AI models trained on extensive datasets could eventually handle lore maintenance. However, Smith's hands-on experience suggests that live, improvisational storytelling relies on human intuition and trust built over time.