I struggle with the "good guys vs bad guys" framing here.

Is a small indie dev "dodgy" if they use AI to unblock a tricky C# problem so they can actually finish their game? Yarn Spinner seems to conflate "Enterprise Scale Replacement" (firing 500 support staff) with "assistive tooling" (a solo dev using GenAI for texture variants).

By drawing such a hard line, they might be signaling virtue to their base, but they are also ignoring the nuance that AI -- like the spellcheckers and compilers before it -- can be a force multiplier for the very creatives they want to protect.

Personally, I do agree that there are many problems with companies behind major LLMs today, as well as big tech companies C-levels who don't understand why AI can't replace engineers. But this post, as much as written in a nice tone, doesn't frame the problem correctly in my mind.

It really doesn't matter though.

> Is a small indie dev "dodgy" if they use AI to unblock a tricky C# problem so they can actually finish their game?

No amount of framing (unless written into law) would stop small indie devs from doing this. AI is just too efficient, making too much sense economically. People who are willing to starve for their ideology is always the minority.

Even artisans who build hand-made wooden furniture use power tools today. The tools that make economical sense will prevail one way or another.

> I struggle with the "good guys vs bad guys" framing here.

It's because generative AI has become part of the "culture wars" and is therefore black and white to lots of people.

I think most people don't have an issue with the models themselves, just the big service providers who are up to some very shady and possibly illegal stuff.

Personally I'd rather a future where everyone used local models.

I think the only people they're calling "dodgy" are the ones offering these AI tools, and not the people using them.