My opinion is that I don’t need such thing. If it would be optional from battle.net launcher to do download “official modification” that would replace all textures with AI upscaled ones for anyone who is interested, then so be it.
I however was never big fan of AI upscale HD remasters, because they create graphical inconsistencies where some objects feel out of place. They simply does not fit in to the rest of what is being displayed on the screen.
When it comes to 3D graphics in video games, the most important thing for me is not the highest possible texture resolution with sharpest details, but consistency where texture resolution, lights, shadows and polygonal detail of 3D models fits together to create perfect balance.
It wasn’t forced in the beta, it was an optional toggle that came with an additional download. So if they added it not everyone would be forced to use it.
It only worked for a few people, I heard the majority of people couldn’t even download the textures. There’s a WoWhead article that shows a side by side of the normal textures compared to the HD textures we had in the beta.