Just replayed this game after a year, and the art update looks so good! Not as creepy as before, but it gives off a semi-cozy, sad nostalgic feeling instead. And it's really cool you've decided to replace the AI stuff.
To be fair, the game was created long before the generative AI pushback, and at the time genAI wasn't seen as anything more than a fun tool. And the author replaced all the AI imagery in the beginning of this year.