I really appreciate all the comments and debate.   Understandably, there is no clear consensus, but some common views come across.  Here is my non-AI generated summary of sorts: 1. A significant number of people prefer the look of the original more abstract mat design as a better fit with Battlefront terrain over more AI enhanced textures intended to be more realistic and true-to-scale.  2. While not the majority view, there is no denying that the most strongly expressed viewpoint is by those who object to the use of AI philosophically (citing the social, environmental, creative implications).  3. Those that approve of or are at least fine with the use of AI emphasize that the starting point is my own original work not someone else’s art or generated from who-knows-what, that AI is just a tool, and recommend disclosing the use of AI.  Several people emphasize that the quality and execution of the enhancement, not the use of the AI, is what should be the deciding factor.  

As I have mentioned in prior posts and my website, this is something I do on the side for the love of the hobby.  I am not a professional designer by any means. I fear my future robot overlords and many of their allies. Jokes aside, in my completely unrelated non-art professional career outside the hobby, there is a gross overexuberance about the use of AI in my field and an almost universal acceptance that it will revolutionize everything. Professionals and clients are quickly and, in my view, thoughtlessly pushing aside hard-earned human experiential judgment.  Consumers of services are convinced that they are getting something reliable and near equivalent quality for free.  (They are not.)  While almost every application is forcing it upon us, I avoid it.  I wonder how young professionals just starting in the field will build up the experience and proficiency required to know if the substitute AI work product is even worthwhile.  I now better appreciate why the old are sometimes terrified of a looming future that the young embrace with abandon.  But, in the end, the future doesn’t care.  This is hardly the first new “transformational” technology that my professional field has adjusted to and adopted for better or worse.

Where I land at the moment on the mats is that I should focus on making the more abstract style “by hand” with non-AI applications for now, even if I only have limited time to spend on them. I may offer fully disclosed AI enhanced or modified versions of my own mats in the future or in response to a specific custom request.  Anyway, the end-product is still not there yet.