Keep MegaMek Free of AI-Generated Code

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As of the latest few versions, MegaMek - a major suite of programs that allow much of the BattleTech community to enjoy the game's many facets digitally - has begun to incorporate more and more AI-generated code, as well as AI-derived art assets. This is, in no uncertain terms, antithetical to the desires of the community, and could potentially lead to a number of problems for the MegaMek team going forward.

We, the members of the BattleTech fan community, implore the MegaMek development team to roll back any AI-generated code and art assets, and to make a commitment going forward to avoid any use of generative AI in the MegaMek software suite.

The widespread adoption of AI-generated material, be it art or code, is a serious concern to the BattleTech community. AI-generated art is almost universally built off of stolen source material, and AI-generated code also has similar issues, as it potentially pulls from codebases with licenses that are incompatible with the GPL under which MegaMek is published (to say nothing of the Microsoft Game Content Policy). Therefore, AI-generated content is automatically of dubious provenance - something that MegaMek, as an open-source community project derived from a corporate-owned intellectual property, cannot afford to struggle with.

Aaron Steele, a long-time community member and the owner of the Secrets of BattleTech lore blog, has gone into extreme detail on the current state of AI assets in MegaMek here, and he summarizes his concerns well:

"Even if you don’t have a moral issue with use of generative AI in this project, it’s a gamble. The MegaMek team are betting that no future legal ruling will create problems in the future, despite indications that such rulings are coming. And they’re betting the work of real people on this, because there are still volunteer developers putting their time into MegaMek code that depends on AI-generated content."

Unfortunately, if the MegaMek developers continue down this path, we as fans and community members cannot in good faith continue to support the program.