Reminder that running mods is based on trust

Hi, with the recent discussions on AI coded VR mods, I think it's useful for everyone to remember that running mods has always been based on trust.

You're installing and running a random program from the internet. You have no idea what it actually is or does. Sure, it might be open source, but did you build it yourself? You probably just downloaded the provided binaries, and there's no guarantee they were built from the source code.

AI coded mods add another layer on top of that. Even if the dev had honest intentions and the binary was built from the source code, you need to trust that the AI wrote something that doesn't accidentally do something harmful.

Antivirus software works via checking against known viruses and certain heuristics, it's not going to detect an AI coded program that accidentally deletes all the files off your hard drive under certain circumstances or whatever.

I think AI could be a powerful tool that helps experienced VR modders investigate a game and find the places they need to modify, to help them write their own code. But I would be very careful about devs who aren't experienced just getting the AI to make the whole thing without understanding every part of what it does.

At the very least, I'd feel more comfortable with a 2 person process - someone makes the mod with AI, and then an experienced VR modder manually goes over the whole thing with a fine toothed comb, cleans up the code, fixes any obvious issues, and then puts their stamp of approval on it.

There's also the fact that this dramatically lowers the barrier of entry for scammers and malware. AI can easily make something that looks like it's working, and then the dev can insert their malicious code into the exe for keylogging, botnet, ransomware etc. I guess we're lucky that the PCVR mod user community is probably too small to be worth targeting, a malware author would probably go for a much larger audience.