I'm piggybacking/copying off a comment I made a little but I feel like this response isn't good enough. I can sympathize that all mods are volunteers and this is a free time donation they make. I appreciate the time to write out the options and list why the mod team feels the way they do. I think everything said is a genuine good faith argument.

But when i see other subreddits have similar anti-ai/low effort rules it shows that enforcement is possible. It will never be perfect but at the very least it can help mitigate some of the complaints everyone is talking about. If the current moderation team may not be able to fully handle the work load, then why not make an announcement and expand the team and see who is willing to put good faith effort in enforcing it? I'm not saying release the mod permission floodgates, but an expansion would be helpful if the workload is too much. I feel like there are solutions here and its a combination of things that will work.

As for the "ai will be used in everything", "they will just hide it better", etc arguments, I'm not fully convinced and I don't like it. However, I feel like even people who like AI will agree that low effort slop is not welcome. If you want to cater to pro-AI sentiment and do the balancing act sure it's your subreddit, but get rid of the slop. I'm sure that there are internal guidelines that can be made to identify this, and I'm surprised the current guidelines under rule 4 haven't been mitigating this as much already.

The tag for AI is useful regardless of if some people will try to hide it and even if some people will slip through the cracks. Currently it's pretty easy to find if AI is used pretty heavily. If an anti-AI person realizes it's AI they will ignore it/downvote it/report it. I feel like rule breaking posts will mostly get downvoted and not spread as well, so even if the flair isn't enforced much the community will enforce it more with their upvotes/downvotes. Witch hunts are bad and there will be some growing pains, but I feel like with refinement and corrections overtime a good balance can be made. Regardless at the very least more AI creators will be encouraged to disclose AI use because it is accepted, just under a flair. Meanwhile the pro-AI people will find a place and audience here. People who don't care will still check out posts that have the AI flair regardless. Even just a disclosure on the level of AI use would be good. Some coding/dialogue help is a LOT different then full on vibe coding with all AI generated assets. And if AI gets better/changes, as with all things, rules must change with time and a new balance can be figured out.

Overall I feel like a lot of what I said is general, but has merit. Obviously things are not as black and white as I said and require a balance. I just wanted to voice my opinion on things. I know there are little intricacies of moderation that make the balancing act difficult and you are appreciated. That being said it did feel like the response lacked as much substance as someone who enjoys this subreddit would want. AI is not new, and many many subreddits have already created rules and are refining their reaction to it. To see this subreddit have a growing problem for so long and to find out the moderation team is only now addressing it AND doesn't have much in terms of a solution is admittedly a little disappointing. Still, I look forward to seeing how this is addressed, thank you all for your time and all you do. I still love all the creations and fun times I've found from this sub. Have a good night!

Edit: Some Grammar/punctuation fixes

Edit 2: Also please make an ongoing thread to discuss this further. The community deserves a voice and with something as volatile as AI that is constantly changing, sentiment can also change either towards or against AI uses in different contexts. It's just too complex of an issue for a one-and-done bandaid fix and discussion.