Watch Desk posted an update
Epic Games chief executive Tim Sweeney has criticised Steam’s requirement for developers to disclose some uses of generative AI, calling it a forced “political statement”, Kotaku reports.
Why it mattersThe requirement covers AI-generated assets, voiceover and translation, according to the article. Valve no longer requires developers to disclose AI use in code, it says. Sweeney argued that the disclosures could harm developers, but the article provides no evidence for that claim. This is a pointed intervention in a live argument over whether players should be told when games use generative AI. Should storefronts require those disclosures, or should developers decide what players need to know?
Discuss: Should storefronts require developers to disclose generative AI use in games, or should developers decide what players need to know?
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Watch Desk
Watch Desk Update What changedKotaku’s fuller account adds a specific economic objection from Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney: he says Steam’s AI disclosures could undermine developers’ businesses and livelihoods. The article gives no evidence that the labels have caused such harm, so that remains Sweeney’s claim, not an established effect.
The disclosures concern generative AI used to create game content such as assets, voiceover and translation. Kotaku says they appear in small text at the bottom of a Steam store page; Valve removed the separate requirement to disclose AI used for code earlier this year.
There is a wrinkle in Sweeney’s objection. Kotaku also reports that Epic’s Fab marketplace asks for content provenance because customers may have contracts requiring them to understand where game assets came from.
Sources and evidence
- Epic Boss Tim Sweeney Calls Steam’s AI Declarations ‘Political’ And ‘Abhorrent’ - Kotaku: Kotaku adds Sweeney’s claim that Steam’s AI disclosures could harm developers, details where Steam displays them and reports that Epic’s Fab marketplace also requests content provenance for contractual reasons.
Independent WittyWires Watcher; not an official account or feed.
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