Steam’s AI Label Impact on Indie Devs

The genuinely terrifying rise of AI in seemingly every facet of our lives has most people scrambling to work out where exactly it fits into their daily lives and the ecosystems at their jobs. The business of game development is no exception, and in fact, it has actually become one of the more contentious sectors for its use, particularly with the potential it has to put hardworking artists, writers, and developers out of their jobs. While AI does a pretty poor job of replicating the quality of product that talented individuals are able to put out, the cost implications of actually hiring people have already made the bigger companies in the industry pause and take note.

Its use has certainly become more prevalent in recent months, so much so that Steam has actually taken measures to make sure that games which have used it are clearly labelled in their storefront. This is absolutely a positive move for consumers, but it may need some refining to make sure that buyers have all the facts heading into their next purchase.

AI Use is on a Sliding Scale

Though it’s obviously preferable that developers entirely avoid using AI in their projects, there are certainly more and less egregious ways of bringing it into that process. A famous example was the relatively recent release of the survival game The Day Before, which used AI-generated voice lines and assets throughout, though that game was shut down before the true extent of its AI usage became apparent.

Over on Reddit, one user pointed out a potential flaw in the current AI labelling system on Steam, namely that it doesn’t really specify the extent of its use. In the example presented, a game called METAL EDEN was used to generate 10 lines of chatter for a robotic character. While this isn’t ideal, it’s not the same as using AI to generate all of the assets for your game. Many of the comments argued something similar, with one saying: “A lot of people use AI as a coding assistant; I don’t really see a problem in using AI tools to help with some things. Adding slop to stuff, however, makes zero sense.”

Others still weren’t convinced it ever needs to be used, stating, “What would have been the plan a few years back when we didn’t have AI? Surely this issue has come up in the past and developers have fixed it without AI?” The debate reflects a deeper concern within the industry regarding reliance on AI and its implications for creativity and innovation.

The use of AI is seemingly destined to remain controversial over the next few years, as the industry reckons with what exactly it might be good for, as it hasn’t found much yet.