r/nexusmods • u/GuyentificEnqueery • 20h ago
Meta / Discussion I don't even have a problem with AI-assisted programming necessarily, but c'mon
I'm in Red, mod author in Blue, others in Green. I know it's very easy to figure out who this is but please do not harass these people, it only furthers their persecution complex and is highly non-productive. I was just prevented from sharing my concerns on the mod page so I'm sharing them here.
I do not have an inherent problem with AI-assisted programming. It is becoming standard in the industry, for better or for worse. But insofar as AI thumbnails and imagery goes, it's extremely frustrating to see these creepy AI images plastered all over the Nexus front page. For starters, I have no idea what the mod/mod tool looks like and no proof (via actual screenshot) of any of the listed features, because the only images are AI-generated advertising. That's not even getting into how unsettling the end results are, or how it takes so little time and effort to make a simple mod thumbnail, or how these generative AI systems often wholesale plagiarize artists who also put a huge amount of time and energy into their work (often also for free).
To top that off, this specific mod page is for a third-party mod tool, which uses an executable file. How can I trust that the program has been developed and generated safely if I can't even see a screenshot of the actual program itself?
The author's rant about not having time because he needs to feed his cats, but also that he had to sit there for six hours while Claude did the programming for him... it's all just very bizarre and makes me further not trust the program. We already have reports of malware being snuck into AI-generated software by rogue AIs, and if mod creators like this are apparently not even taking the time to review and quality-control the code output, I can't trust that even a previously reliable mod author isn't publishing a ticking time bomb.
I honestly would like to see a ban on using AI-generated media on the mod page at all. There should also be a requirement of a screenshot of some kind from either in-game or in xEdit or a modding tool to show what was changed and how it works. Even for smaller mods that are just patches. I always take the time to add screenshots to my mods (I'm an author myself) no matter how minor they are, so that people know what changes I made.

