'We support the work of those who are trying to limit the harm generative AI is doing to videogames and our world, and apologise that Big Walk’s LLM usage may not meet their standards'
Valve’s disclosure policy is very specific. It’s about visual assets (models and textures), audio (music and VA), script writing (not explicitly translation or subtitling either), and that’s it. There is no requirement to disclose AI-assisted, AI-researched, or fully AI-generated code.
The assets stuff also is specifically about the final game. If a studio uses AI for placeholders and doesn’t ship them in the actual Steam game, it’s not required to disclose that process.
AI generated code does need to be disclosed actually, per https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/4145017/view/3862463747997849618. It’s unclear to me exactly where the line is drawn between what needs to be disclosed through that and using AI for research like this, but IMO this is probably removed enough from the final product that it shouldn’t need to be disclosed.
To be clear, fuck ai, but examples like the one given are fair enough that I can’t really be mad at them for using it.
Welp, I’m stupid I guess. I do recall House House saying that code did not have to be disclosed.
Looking at the current Steam documentation, rather than that linked article from 2024, no mention of “code” is made (I used Ctrl+f to make sure this time).
Valve’s disclosure policy is very specific. It’s about visual assets (models and textures), audio (music and VA), script writing (not explicitly translation or subtitling either), and that’s it. There is no requirement to disclose AI-assisted, AI-researched, or fully AI-generated code.
The assets stuff also is specifically about the final game. If a studio uses AI for placeholders and doesn’t ship them in the actual Steam game, it’s not required to disclose that process.
Seems like it’s just punishing devs that know they used AI for something not typically considered “AI use”, but are honest enough to admit it.
Would be nice to see what parts were tagged with AI so people could make their own judgements.
AI generated code does need to be disclosed actually, per https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/4145017/view/3862463747997849618. It’s unclear to me exactly where the line is drawn between what needs to be disclosed through that and using AI for research like this, but IMO this is probably removed enough from the final product that it shouldn’t need to be disclosed.
To be clear, fuck ai, but examples like the one given are fair enough that I can’t really be mad at them for using it.
This article is from 2024.
The actual form (not visible to the public) has changed in January 2026: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/simoncarless_interestingly-pc-video-game-platform-steam-activity-7417944215675908096-OGNg/
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/valve-tweaks-and-clarifies-ai-disclosure-rules-for-steam
Where on that page does it say code needs to be disclosed?
The most relevant bit I found is this, and that is not about code:
Code is mentioned directly in the bit you quoted.
Welp, I’m stupid I guess. I do recall House House saying that code did not have to be disclosed.
Looking at the current Steam documentation, rather than that linked article from 2024, no mention of “code” is made (I used Ctrl+f to make sure this time).
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted/contentsurvey