After a game developer declared last year that Steam would not accept AI-based games, Valve is "considering how to integrate this into our already existing review policy," and clarified that "our review process reflects current copyright laws and policies, and adds our opinion We have not added our own opinions," he clarified. As these laws and policies evolve over time, so will our process."

With this new step in the process, Valve has issued a new statement addressing AI content on Steam. Valve has issued a new statement addressing AI content on Steam. 'After spending the last few months learning about the field and talking with game developers, we are changing the way we handle games that use AI technology. This will allow us to release the majority of games that use AI technology."

It begins.

Two changes are coming to Steam that will make this possible: first, an update to the Content Survey, the form that developers fill out when submitting their games to Steam. The survey now requires developers to disclose whether they used AI during development and whether it was pre-generated (used to create assets prior to release) or live-generated (used to create content while the game is being played) An item will be added that requires disclosure of whether the content is "live generated" (used to create content while the game is being played).

If the content is pre-generated, the developer must "promise Valve that you will not include any illegal or infringing content in your game and that your game will match your marketing materials. In the case of live generation, developers must "tell the AI what guardrails they are putting in place to ensure that they do not generate illegal content."

The second change concerns the possibility of algorithmic tools generating illegal material while the game is running: "We are releasing a new system on Steam that will allow players to report illegal content in games, including Live-Generated AI content. Using an in-game overlay, players can easily file reports when they encounter content that they believe should have been caught by the appropriate guardrails regarding AI generation.

These two changes will allow Steam to accommodate AI games. Given that 14,000 games were released on Steam last year, it will be interesting to see how many games this change will enable. We've come high enough that the numbers seem completely abstract, so it would be hard to notice if AI-generated games stacked up and a sort of gray goochokiper appeared.

One limitation on AI content that Valve allows remains, and that is with regard to "adult-only sexual content created with Live-Generated AI."