With AI, without us: Valve takes copyright very seriously.

AI is supposed to make our lives a lot easier. Of course, game developers benefit from it too, especially small teams and one-man developers who can have graphics and assets created by artificial intelligence.

Steam says it will not publish such games.

Existing games silently deleted

Already a few weeks ago, (a thread on Reddit) caused a stir. There, a redditor complained that his game was banned from Steam even before release because he used AI-generated images. According to his own statement, these only served as placeholders and should be replaced.

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

☻

After some back and forth, this developer’s game was not released even though he replaced the assets, but at least he got compensation.

Statement from Valve provides clarity

With incidents like the one above becoming more frequent, (asked IGN for a statement from Valve). 

The reasoning behind why games with AI assets were deleted from Steam is simple: You’re treading on legally unsafe ground when Valve publishes games that the developers don’t have all the necessary rights to.

In the event of a dispute, Valve would be up against it as a publisher, which is why they put a stop to developers using AI right away.

However, the publisher does not want to stop developers from submitting games with AI-generated content to Steam. It just wants to make sure that developers have the right permissions for all the assets used in them.

Telling IGN, Valve said:

We welcome and encourage innovation, and AI technology will certainly create new and exciting gaming experiences. While developers can use these AI technologies in their work with appropriate commercial licenses, they must not infringe on existing copyrights

It is of course also in Valve’s best interests to make as many games available through Steam as they can.

Fairly, the publisher reimburses developers who already use AI-based content in their games when it is deleted from Steam. They are still in the process of deciding how to deal with this themselves.

This is not the first time AI and games have met on Steam. An AI plays Minecraft and is always improving, and Cities: Skylines 2 gets active support from artificial intelligence.

At this point, copyright in connection with AI remains a legally grey area. Valve’s actions, however, show that the topic is a hot potato that companies only touch with a pinch of salt.

What do you think? Should AI assets be allowed to support small game developers? Or should artificial intelligence be banned from creative fields? Post it in the comments.

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