Valve has released new rules for how developers can publish games that use the AI technology are Steam. In a recent blog post, the company says it is “making changes to how we run games that use AI technology”. This means that developers will have to indicate if and when their games use it. As Valve still reminds us, the changes “they will allow us to release the vast majority of games they use artificial intelligence”. The changes appear designed to increase transparency around the use of AI in Steam games. Valve will offer at the same time protection against risks resulting from the use of AI-generated content and will allow customers to make a informed choice about purchasing a game that uses AI technology.
Steam: what Valve’s new rules provide
Under the new rules, developers will always have to reveal when games contain pre-generated content (such as graphics, code or sound) created with the help of artificial intelligence and promise that these are not “illegal o violative”. They will also need to indicate whether their game has AI content generated in real time on Steam, while it is running. It is in the latter case that developers will have to detail the security measures they have put in place to prevent their artificial intelligence from generate illegal content. Players will be able to see on a game’s store page whether contains AI. Additionally, reporting illegal AI-generated content in the game will be much easier.
The release of the new rules comes about six months after several developers complained that Valve was rejecting Steam game submissions containing resources generated by AI. In one case, the company also claimed that a submitted title contained “AI-generated art assets that [sembravano] rely on copyrighted material owned by third parties”. The company then specified that it could not distribute such a game. The developer should in fact have confirmed to possess the rights are “all intellectual property used in the dataset that trained the AI to create the assets” in the game. Valve’s recent blog post suggests that its attitude and rules regarding AI-generated content will likely change. This is also thanks to theevolution of technology and its legal framework.