Valve doesn’t want to “discourage” AI content in games, but will act in line with copyright law

After a developer’s game was rejected for using AI-generated art, Valve has clarified its stance on whether it will allow it on the platform.

Last month, a developer shared a post on the aigamedev subreddit that Valve had declined to have their game appear on Steam, admitting that some of the art was “obviously AI generated”. Valve specifically pointed to the use of AI-generated art, which it was unable to determine whether or not the developer had rights, as the main reason behind the opportunity behind the rejection, offering an opportunity to remove any art the developer did not own. the rights to. The developer simply changed the art by hand, but apparently not quite, and the game was once again rejected. This left some questions about Valve’s stance on AI-generated content in games, but in a statement to eurogamerthe company has offered a number of clarifications.

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Valve apparently shared that it continues to learn about AI and how it can be used in development, as well as how it will factor into the games it enables on Steam. “Our priority, as always, is to try to ship as many of the titles we receive as possible,” Valve said, discussing how AI can make this process difficult, as it’s not always clear when developers have “sufficient rights.” in using AI to create assets, including images, text, and music.”

As for the legal uncertainty around the use of AI-generated work, Valve said that “it’s the developer’s responsibility to make sure they have the appropriate rights to ship their game.”

“We know it’s an ever-evolving technology, and our goal is not to discourage its use on Steam; instead, we’re working on how to integrate it into our existing review policies. Put plainly, our review process is a reflection of the laws and current copyright policies, not an additional layer of our opinion. As these laws and policies evolve over time, so will our process.”

Essentially, it sounds like Valve doesn’t want to get into any kind of legal trouble, as it’s all still a bit murky when it comes to the use of AI in media in general.

The aforementioned developer is not the only one using AI art in games, as even the much higher profile High On Life did. The Squanch Games title used Midjourney for things like posters, but Midjourney is also potentially in a bit of legal trouble due to the potential use of artwork without the consent of the artists, although obviously High On Life is still on Steam despite this. Valve likely hasn’t figured out their full stance on the matter, so we’ll have to wait and see how copyright laws play out regarding AI.