Add clear AI use statement

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ Commonwealth Online is an active Fallout 4 multiplayer mod in iterative developm
 
 Contributions should stay focused, documented, and safe to test in a clean Fallout 4 profile.
 
+## AI use in this project
+
+The maintainer uses AI-assisted coding tools as a learning aid, development helper, and for formatting project records ([`changelog.md`](changelog.md), [`docs/dev-log.md`](docs/dev-log.md), detailed commit messages). See the [AI use statement](README.md#ai-use-statement) in the root README for scope, limits, and a concrete example (animation graph research vs. AI guesses).
+
+When contributing, verify AI-assisted or AI-suggested changes against the game and project docs — especially for undocumented engine behavior such as animation graphs, actor sync, and F4SE integration.
+
 ## Current Contribution Areas
 
 Useful contributions include:

README.md

@@ -167,6 +167,20 @@ Root batch scripts: `build-all.bat`, `deploy-all.bat`, `build.bat`, `compile-pap
 
 ---
 
+## AI use statement
+
+This project uses AI-assisted coding tools (for example Cursor, ChatGPT, or Copilot) as a **learning aid** and as a **helper for everyday development** — drafting boilerplate, exploring APIs, debugging networking and UI code, and iterating on features such as proxy appearance sync, server tooling, and getting weapon models to display on remote players.
+
+AI is also used for **tedious but important housekeeping** — turning rough session notes into properly formatted [`changelog.md`](changelog.md) entries, [`docs/dev-log.md`](docs/dev-log.md) milestone write-ups, and detailed commit messages. The maintainer still decides what changed and what matters; AI mainly helps phrase, structure, and keep that record consistent with project conventions (for example Keep a Changelog categories and the dev-log milestone format).
+
+**AI is not a substitute for Fallout 4 engine expertise or community knowledge.** A clear example is animation sync: for roughly a week, AI-assisted attempts to drive locomotion and weapon-drawn animations on proxy actors produced plausible variable names and events that **do not exist on the real animation graphs** and failed silently at runtime. That is not how regular Bethesda animation graphs work — you cannot guess your way to the correct `hkx` behavior internals from general game-modding patterns alone.
+
+What actually unlocked progress was **human guidance from `.doxr` on Discord**, who suggested **decompiling the `.hkx` behavior files** and reading the unpacked graph XML (see the `F4-Animation-Research` work around `MTBehavior.hkx` / `RaiderRootBehavior`). Only after that did the correct variable names, types, and weapon-behavior paths get wired into the plugin. Weapon model display and partial weapon animation sync likewise depended on in-game testing, logs, and that kind of targeted research — not on AI guesses about undocumented graph internals.
+
+If you contribute to or review this repository, treat AI-generated code and documentation as a **starting point**. Verify behavior against the game, [`docs/protocol.md`](docs/protocol.md), and community research before assuming it is correct.
+
+---
+
 ## Legal notice
 
 Commonwealth Online is an **unofficial fan project**. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with Bethesda Softworks or ZeniMax Media.

changelog.md

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ For testing notes, milestone summaries, known issues, and next steps, see [`docs
 
 ### Changed
 - Repository cleanup: moved `protocol/` and `ROADMAP.md` under `docs/`, moved decompiled `Interface/` reference assets to `docs/reference/Interface/`, moved `setup-ultralight-link.ps1` to `tools/scripts/`, removed stale phase/milestone docs and unused `steam_interfaces.txt`, and added `docs/README.md` as a documentation index.
+- Added an [AI use statement](README.md#ai-use-statement) to `README.md` and a short contributor note in `CONTRIBUTING.md` (learning/coding aid; changelog, dev-log, and commit-message formatting; limits for undocumented engine work such as animation graphs; credit to `.doxr` for the `.hkx` decompile path).
 - Documentation updated: `docs/setup.md` now includes quick-start CLI hosting instructions.
 
 ### Fixed