IMHO, Linux Mint should make LMDE the default version, because it's lighter weight and it is less dependent on other projects. Further upstream is better for these kinds of projects, if you ask me
Another thought: does it really matter if it's AI generated or not? As long as you can fact-check the content and the quality isn't horrible, I don't see why it matters if it's written by a real person or not
On my desktop I use Gnome with Arc-Dark everywhere. On my laptop, I use LabWC with a custom one-dark theme that I wrote. Oh, and Phinger cursors on both
Went fine for me, just pressed enter a lot of times