The head of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, said that their game store will allow games made using Generative AI. This is interesting because their biggest competitor, Valve, doesn’t allow AI generated games on Steam.
Recently, a developer who makes games shared on Reddit that Steam rejected their game because it used AI-generated content in the game. Steam said this happened because it’s unclear who owns the rights to the stuff the AI made.
This has happened before. Valve says they won’t let games with AI Generated content because developers can’t prove they own the training data used to teach the systems.
Developers can use Generative AI, but only if they have the right licenses and don’t break copyright laws. Valve says this is because the law isn’t clear yet, and they’re not against AI-generated stuff in general.
In response to the developer’s problem, Tim Sweeney from Epic Games said they could release their game on their store, which doesn’t “ban games for using new technologies.”
Sweeney is trying to make Valve look bad on purpose because Valve isn’t against AI-generated stuff, but they worry it might cause legal problems.
Sweeney thinks games that have both human-made and AI made stuff can be protected as a whole, even if some parts aren’t protected on their own.
Both Epic Games and Valve are open to using AI-generated content, but they’re dealing with the legal questions in very different ways. Steam is being extra careful, while Epic Games is taking more risks.
However, Epic Games is mainly risking the game creators. If a court decides that using Generative AI stuff without permission is breaking the law, the creators might get in more trouble than the store. This could be especially bad for small game makers who want to use computer programs to help them but might not have the money for legal battles.
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