There were reports previously that said Steam, the digital distribution platform for games, has been rejecting games that were created using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated game assets. But Valve, the company behind Steam, came forward and said they are not blanket banning games with AI-generated content.
According to IGN, Valve has acknowledged that it, like everyone else, is constantly learning about the rapidly advancing field of AI. Additionally, Valve wants to avoid discouraging developers from submitting games featuring AI-generated content to Steam. However, the company aims to ensure that developers have the necessary rights for all the assets utilised in their games.
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.
Valve
The company added that they know AI technology is constantly evolving and expresses its intention not to discourage its use on Steam. Instead, the company is actively working on incorporating AI-generated content into its existing review policies. Valve emphasises that its review process is based on current copyright laws and policies and is not influenced by subjective opinions. The company recognises that as laws and policies surrounding AI and copyright evolve over time, its review process will also adapt accordingly.
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 licences, they can’t infringe on existing copyrights.
Valve
So, now we know Steam is not trying to ban all games with AI-generated content. They just want to make sure that the developers have all the rights to the assets that were used to train the AI.
