January 13, 2026
Spool Alert: Drama Unwinding
We Don't Use AI
Yarn Spinner says “no AI”—fans cheer, others cry “bring on robots”
TLDR: Yarn Spinner says it won’t use or add AI, arguing current tools mainly help replace workers. Comments erupted: supporters praised the stance, opponents called AI the next tractor and celebrated job cuts as progress, and one frazzled dev joked about quitting farming after a chaotic midnight code push.
Game tool Yarn Spinner dropped a manifesto: we don’t use AI—not for features, not for coding, not for contributions. The team says today’s AI is mostly a way to fire people and squeeze more work out of fewer hires, so they won’t integrate it until the industry changes. Cue comment-section fireworks.
Fans loved the line in the sand. One cheered that the anti‑AI stance “makes ’em even cooler,” and another joked the post title could become a badge you slap on your game. A spicier voice claimed bot builders feeling “anxious about the future” is the correct vibe.
Then the automation crowd stormed in. A critic argued that if AI gets more done with fewer people—“aka ‘firing people’”—that’s “wonderful for humankind,” comparing it to tractors and dishwashers. That take lit up replies, with others pushing back that not all efficiency is progress when rent is due.
Real-world drama landed with a thud: one engineer allegedly shipped a 4,000‑line change at midnight, saying “let’s merge and check it after.” The shell‑shocked coworker sighed, “AI helps good teams, makes bad teams worse,” and threatened to quit to farming. The vibe: principled stand meets productivity angst, sprinkled with memes and weary sighs.
Key Points
- •Yarn Spinner does not use generative AI, does not employ code generation tools, and rejects contributions known to contain generated material.
- •The authors have a background in AI/ML in games, including research, talks, ML bots, and books focused on procedural animation.
- •Advances like TensorFlow and increased GPU access previously made neural networks and deep learning more practical for their work.
- •They observed an industry shift by late 2020 toward generative imagery and chatbots, with less emphasis on mitigating bias and explainability, and note researchers raising concerns were fired.
- •The team prioritizes features that help make better games and will not integrate AI into Yarn Spinner until the situation changes, favoring fewer polished, problem-solving features.