Epic CEO: Steam Should Remove ‘Made with AI’ Labels
▼ Summary
– Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney believes Steam and other game stores should remove “Made with AI” tags, arguing they will become irrelevant as AI becomes ubiquitous in game production.
– Sweeney stated that AI tags are useful for art exhibits and licensing marketplaces but make no sense for game stores where AI will be involved in nearly all future production.
– Steam now allows most games developed with generative AI as long as it is disclosed, but Sweeney thinks this disclosure is unnecessary.
– Sweeney and Nexon CEO Junghun Lee both emphasize that AI use is widespread in gaming, with Sweeney noting it increases human productivity and should lead to better games rather than fewer jobs.
– Despite AI’s prevalence, some indie developers use “AI-free” as a selling point, indicating not all developers support removing AI labels.
The debate over labeling video games created with artificial intelligence is heating up, with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney publicly urging platforms like Steam to eliminate “Made with AI” tags. Sweeney contends these labels will soon lose meaning as generative AI tools become standard across the industry, arguing that disclosure makes sense for art galleries or stock asset marketplaces, where authorship and rights are central, but not for game storefronts where nearly all future titles will incorporate some level of AI assistance.
In a series of posts on social media platform X, Sweeney questioned the logic behind singling out AI usage. He quipped that if stores insist on such disclosures, they might as well require developers to reveal what brand of shampoo they use. His comments respond to Steam’s current policy, which allows games built with generative AI as long as developers disclose it. While Steam initially approached AI-generated content cautiously, it has since opened its doors to the majority of such projects, provided they are properly labeled.
Sweeney’s perspective finds support from other industry leaders. Junghun Lee, CEO of publisher Nexon, recently stated that people should assume every game company is now utilizing AI. This came after Nexon faced scrutiny for employing AI-generated voice lines in its game Arc Raiders. Sweeney also commented on that situation, emphasizing that AI can multiply human productivity in specific areas. He believes this should result in higher-quality games rather than workforce reductions.
There is strong evidence that AI adoption is spreading rapidly beyond gaming. Microsoft, for example, reports that 91 percent of its engineering teams actively use GitHub Copilot. As AI becomes deeply integrated into development and creative software, its role in production pipelines seems inevitable. Still, not every developer agrees with removing AI labels. A growing number of indie studios are promoting their games as “AI-free,” using this as a unique selling point to attract customers who prefer wholly human-crafted experiences. This suggests that, even as AI grows ubiquitous, consumer demand for transparency isn’t going away.
(Source: The Verge)
