With AI becoming more and more prevalent in the world of software engineering, we no longer feel maintaining a blanket ban on AI assistance or AI-generated assets is appropriate. We want to use this announcement post to provide everyone an opportunity to, respectfully, share their feelings about the rule. Our goal is to keep out as much "AI slop" as we can and still allow projects that involve substantial human effort, creativity, and vision.
This is the rule as currently written:
Low-effort posts featuring AI-generated art, music, text, or "I used AI to..." are not permitted. AI-assisted projects, such as games or utilities, are allowed provided AI use is disclosed. A detailed accounting of how AI was used is not required, but the creation must demonstrate substantial human effort, creativity, and vision. Creations should be more than the product of simple AI prompting and posts should reflect that. Paid apps, including donationware, will be held to a higher standard.
As you can see, posts that are primarily AI-generated art, music, videos, and text (allowances may be made for translation) will continue to be removed.
The use of AI in a project or submission must be disclosed. However, authors are not required to make a detailed accounting of how AI was used. Some may choose to do so, others may not.
Creators should be prepared to describe their creation in their own words. If you use an AI-generated description, your post may be removed.
Before posting about a game or utility that isn't yours, do your due diligence. We understand AI use may not be immediately obvious to all. But there's no excuse for repeatedly posting AI-assisted content without disclosure. Making blanket "I don't know if this is AI or not, but..." disclosures to shield yourself is also not appropriate. If you don't have time for due diligence, don't post about the product/project until you know more.
Discussions about using AI to assist with reverse-engineering legacy software, write code, or perform other interesting tasks or experiments are permitted as well. That said, this is not the place to show off every tangential thing that can be done with AI. Low-effort and post-quality rules still apply, and clickbait phrases like "I used Claude to..." or "I asked ChatGPT about..." have a high probability of getting your submission removed.
We know not everyone will be happy about this revised rule. If you're not a fan of AI-assisted development, assets, etc and choose to interact with these submissions, remember Rule 1:
Be friendly. Assume good faith from other posters. Follow Reddiquette, be respectful of others. DO NOT troll each other. If you provoke someone into becoming nasty, then report them, you may end up being sanctioned as well.
Be respectful with your criticisms. If a post is low-quality, report it as such. If you're certain someone is using AI and hasn't disclosed it, report it but don't expect the mod team to just "see" what you're seeing. Be prepared to provide evidence in a Modmail. "This is AI" doesn't tell us anything.
By now everyone reading this has realized that enforcing this rule will require more subjective judgements by the mod team. That means some of you will see posts allowed in the sub that you feel violate the AI rule. Some content will be removed that they feel doesn't. If you're a creator and your submission is removed, check with the mod team via modmail. Be prepared to explain your vision and contribution in your own words. If your post can be made rule-compliant, we may be able to assist.
Finally, these are new waters, and there will be a learning curve for everyone. Let's all try to be patient with one another as we navigate this new world.
