OdinTheDude

in terms of AI as a whole, i do really wish it remained non-generative. AI is certainly not helping cure cancer at this point in time, and you can see the shift from wanting to be profitable through doing good into simply being profitable no matter what. the "bad actors" will basically always outrun the good ones tenfold. you can't expect companies to not use the cheap option whenever possible. that's kind of what 95% of companies are focused on, providing the bare minimum that will get a sale. why spend money making a good advertisement when you can spend a day writing a REALLY good prompt and generate something and spend all that money spreading that shitty advertisement as far and wide as you can. environmental impact is negligible to me (not in the fact that i don't think it's bad, more the fact that even if it was completely net zero i still would hate AI being used). people should be focusing on the human element more than anything else, really. this isn't the same as factories replacing human manual labour. this is AI replacing human creativity. what's the point of getting an AI to do all the creative shit in our lives? i thought this shit was meant to help us with our chores?

i think i agree with pretty much everyone here that poorly and/or quickly made art or simple screenshots are MUCH more preferable than AI art by a mile. the truth is- when most people are looking for a mod, they'll want to actually SEE what the mod does, not just... "here is a vague recreation of what my mod does made by a robot". you don't NEED to pay an artist. you don't NEED to pay an image editor. literally you can just open up paint, write out your mod's title initials in big letters, and then screenshot that and use that. if something is meant to be placeholder... have it BE a placeholder instead of just using it as an excuse for permanently having a subpar AI image. i don't agree with going after people just for using it (unless it's particularly horrendous and clearly made without any care whatsoever), but you can't expect everyone to see all the AI shit around and not react adversely. me personally i almost always avoid an AI generated thumbnail if there's a non-AI alternative. if you are someone who is genuinely interested in your mods picking up traction, just take a screenshot. it's really that easy. or use royalty free icons over a generic background. or just draw something silly. any of these things are preferable