Valve opens the door to more Steam games developed with AI

theverge.com:

By Jon Porter, a reporter with five years of experience covering consumer tech releases, EU tech policy, online platforms, and mechanical keyboards.

Valve has issued new rules about how game developers can publish games that use AI technology on Steam. Writing in a blog post, the company says that it is “making changes to how we handle games that use AI technology” which mean that developers will need to disclose when their games use it. The changes “will enable us to release the vast majority of games that use” AI, Valve’s post says.

The changes appear designed to increase transparency around the use of AI in Steam games, while offering protections against the risks of using AI generated content and allowing customers to make an informed choice about whether to buy a game that uses AI technology.

Under the new rules, developers will need to disclose when games contain pre-generated content (like art, code, or sound) created with the help of AI and promise that it’s not “illegal or infringing.” They’ll also need to say if their game has AI content that is generated “live” while it is running. It’s in the latter case when developers will need to detail the safety measures they put in place to stop their AI from generating illegal content. Players will be able to see on a game’s store page if it contains AI, and have new options to report illegal AI-generated content if they encounter it in-game.

The release of the new rules comes around half a year after several developers complained that Valve was rejecting Steam game submissions containing AI generated assets. In one case, Valve said that a submitted title contained “art assets generated by artificial intelligence that [appeared] to be relying on copyrighted material