Valve responds regarding AI-generated content on Steam

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Responding to the reports of Steam rejecting games containing AI-generated assets, Valve, the developers of the digital game distribution platform and one of the most popular online games, Counter Strike, has given their statement regarding the matter.

A post was previously made on aigamedev Subreddit claiming that Valve is banning games that contain AI-generated assets. The author was rejected the first time in their submission, after which the assets were edited by hand, but still saw the same response.

Valve is not willing to publish games with AI generated content anymore
by u/potterharry97 in aigamedev

“We are continuing to learn about AI, the ways it can be used in game development, and how to factor it in to our process for reviewing games submitted for distribution on Steam,” Valve said in its official statement to IGN.

The company also said that while they do not want to discourage developers, and want to ship as many games as possible, the review process is based around current copyright policies and will evolve over time. As of now, AI generated assets come under legal uncertainty.

“We welcome and encourage innovation, and AI technology is bound to create new and exciting experiences in gaming. While developers can use these AI technologies in their work with appropriate commercial licenses, they can not infringe on existing copyrights,” Valve further added.

While it does not specifically mention anything regarding AI generated assets, it can be ruled under “Content you don’t own or have adequate rights to”. The guidelines also state that games made using blockchain technology that allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs are restricted.

The AI art has been rising in popularity among many artists and companies, but they usually tend to test concepts as the machine learning algorithms of these AI tools use art made by other people as a reference, which have created a huge debate.

It seems that as of now, developers planning to use AI generated content inside their games need to be able to verify ownership in order to have their game published.

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