In the wake of reports from game developers whose games have been banned from publishing on Steam for the use of AI-generated content, Valve has explained its official position on the matter.
First reports that Valve is rejecting submissions for projects that utilize AI-generated assets appeared last week. In messages shared by several developers, the company stated that creators must “affirmatively confirm that you own the rights to all of the IP used in the data set that trained the AI to create the assets in your game.”
Over the weekend, Valve told IGN that it is still learning about AI and the ways it can be used in game development. It cited copyright uncertainty as the main reason for rejecting certain titles. So it is all about the legal side of the issue.
“The introduction of AI can sometimes make it harder to show a developer has sufficient rights in using AI to create assets, including images, text, and music. In particular, there is some legal uncertainty relating to data used to train AI models. It is the developer’s responsibility to make sure they have the appropriate rights to ship their game.”
However, the company noted that “our goal is not to discourage the use of it on Steam.” Right now, it is deciding how to integrate it into its review policies. “We welcome and encourage innovation, and AI technology is bound to create new and exciting experiences in gaming,” Valve said in a statement. “While developers can use these AI technologies in their work with appropriate commercial licenses, they can not infringe on existing copyrights.”
It is worth noting that Steam’s official guidelines haven’t yet been updated to reflect the company’s stance on AI and its use in game development. However, Valve doesn’t allow “content you don’t own or have adequate rights to” on the platform.
This means Valve currently has no problems with games using AI-generated assets that were created with models trained on publicly available data.