Nexus Mods will make modders say whether they used AI, and explain how

Hours after we wrote about AI-made addons flooding World of Warcraft: Forever before it even launched, PC gaming's largest mod repository has decided on its own answer.

Nexus Mods will require authors to declare whether AI was used in any new mod they upload, Jay Peters reports for The Verge. Mods tagged as AI-assisted will also need a public explanation of where and how AI was involved, and the AI tags will get more prominent placement on mod pages. The announcement came in a long post by site owner Victor "Foledinho" Folmann.

Why not just ban it

Folmann says the site is pro-human creativity but won't ban AI-generated mods, and his reasoning is practical. AI now shows up across the whole creative process, from script autocomplete to textures, voices and whole assets, so there's no clean line between acceptable and not. In his view, a ban wouldn't remove AI from modding. It would just stop people admitting to it. He'd rather have it labeled and visible.

What changes

• Disclosure: every new upload has to state whether AI was used. Existing mods have 60 days to comply, and enforcement starts after January 2.
• Filters: players get controls to hide AI-generated content on game pages and the homepage, with search coming next.
• Training: Nexus says it won't train AI on mods, and won't sell or license them to anyone who does.
• Reuse: it is working on clearer controls over how one author's mod can be reused by others, and on stronger attribution when that's allowed.
• Upload floods: the Recently Added list will limit how many mods from one author appear at once, and new accounts face tighter upload limits. Folmann says this one isn't really about AI, but faster production has made bulk uploads more common.

The reality check

Disclosure only works if people are honest, and the WoW scene already shows that many vibe-coders only own up when someone catches them. Nexus hasn't said how it will check the declarations. Still, labeling plus a filter gives players a real choice, and the training pledge gives human modders something they rarely get from a platform: a promise their work won't become someone else's dataset.

The bulk-upload limits might do the most good. When building costs almost nothing, the scarce resource is attention, and the front page is where it gets spent.

Scoreboard update: Humans +1. The biggest mod site makes AI use something you have to declare, not something you can hide.

Stay undead.