Creative GenerationConsumer FacingVerified
Reviewed and published by trentmaziarz, March 22, 2026. Discovered and drafted by our automated research pipeline.
Steam requires every game developer who uses generative AI in their product to label it publicly on the store page, so players know before they buy. Valve introduced this policy in January 2024 and updated it again in January 2026 to clarify which AI uses trigger disclosure and which do not.
Details
The policy distinguishes two types of AI use: "Pre-Generated" content (AI used during development to create art, audio, or writing that ships in the final game) and "Live-Generated" content (AI that creates content on the fly while a player is in the game). Live-generated adult content is banned entirely. A player reporting tool inside the Steam overlay lets users flag suspected undisclosed AI use. In January 2026, Valve rewrote the disclosure form to exclude AI-powered development tools — like code assistants — from the requirement, narrowing the focus to generative AI content that players actually experience. By mid-2025, approximately 8,000 Steam titles had filed AI disclosures.
Products affected
Steam StoreSteamworks developer portal
Sources & Evidence
Company Disclosure
Other practices by Valve Corporation
OtherValve holds multiple patents describing machine learning applications for its hardware products and multiplayer networking. These cover predicting player input to reduce lag in online games, tracking eye gaze direction in VR headsets, and determining the physical position of a VR headset using sensor data. The patents confirm Valve's machine learning R&D extends well beyond anti-cheat.ProductivityA Valve engineer publicly described using ChatGPT like an advanced search engine to find a specific type of matching algorithm he needed for the game Deadlock. He found the Hungarian algorithm this way and it was then built into Deadlock's hero selection matchmaking system. The engineer shared this on social media in October 2024.ModerationSteam operates a text filtering system in Steam Chat and in games like Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2, automatically blocking or replacing profanity and slurs. Players can adjust how much filtering is applied to their own experience. The system shipped as Steam Labs Experiment 011 before being integrated into the main platform.
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