A useful AI use policy for game development contractors should say which tools and work are covered, what information may be entered, which uses need written approval, how deliverables are reviewed, and who handles disclosures or incidents. Attach the policy to the contractor agreement or incorporate it by reference, and align it with the project’s client, publisher, engine, platform, privacy, and IP obligations. The details must be adapted to the governing law and each engagement; no single policy works as a universal legal template.
1. Define which tools and work the policy covers
Do not limit the definition to chatbots. Cover generative and assistive systems used for text, code, images, audio, video, translation, voice, 3D content, analytics, QA, or live player-facing features. Include tools embedded in software as well as standalone services, and say whether subcontractors are covered.
Define covered project work broadly enough to include code and scripts, design documents, concept art, textures, animation, dialogue, localization, testing, marketing, analytics, and features that generate content during play. Name approved tools in the policy or maintain a separate approved-tool list with an owner and version date; a list that nobody maintains quickly becomes unreliable.
Distinguish using a tool to assist with work from using material to train or improve a model. These are different data flows and may have different terms. Gotcha Gotcha Games, for example, distinguishes AI assistance or output from training or improving an AI system, and its restrictions concern its own products—not every game engine or asset library.
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Separate internal assistance from shipped or player-facing use
Make clear that use for internal brainstorming, drafting, or debugging is not automatically equivalent to shipping generated content or exposing a model to players. Track both categories. A contractor may use an approved tool privately during production while the game itself contains no generative feature; conversely, a player-facing feature needs release review even if a contractor did not use AI to make its surrounding assets.
2. Protect inputs before they reach a provider
Set a default rule: contractors may not submit confidential or nonpublic studio or client material to an AI service unless the studio has approved both the service and the specific data flow in writing. “The tool is on the approved list” should not silently authorize every kind of project data.
- Identify protected inputs: unreleased builds, source code, credentials, private interfaces, scripts, proprietary assets, licensed third-party material, player data, personal information, and confidential client materials.
- Require contractors to check provider terms and settings that affect retention, model training, sharing, and access. Explain that a setting or vendor assurance does not replace studio approval.
- Specify how approval is requested, who decides, what information the request must include, and whether approval applies only to a named project, tool, and data category.
- Prohibit pasting secrets or protected material into an unapproved service, including during debugging or code completion.
A software licence example allows ordinary AI coding assistants on a user’s own project but expressly does not authorize uploading nonpublic source code, credentials, confidential information, or pre-release materials to an AI provider. That is an example of contract-specific limits, not a general licence rule. Check the actual software and project agreements. Likewise, RPG Maker guidance permits several AI-assisted development tasks while restricting training on its engine programs, core scripts, and official assets; those product-specific terms should not be generalized to other engines.
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3. Classify uses as allowed, conditional, or prohibited
A three-tier scheme gives contractors a decision they can use before work starts. State that project-specific instructions and stricter client, publisher, platform, or product terms take precedence where applicable.
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| Class | Policy treatment | Examples and controls |
|---|---|---|
| Allowed | Permit use without case-by-case approval when every stated condition is met. | An approved tool, non-sensitive input, work the contractor is entitled to use, no conflicting project or platform restriction, and human verification before delivery. |
| Conditional | Require written approval before use and a record of the decision. | Any client or confidential material; third-party assets; code with licensing uncertainty; content likely to ship; voice or likeness; player-facing generation; or work subject to a publisher or platform rule. Record the tool, purpose, input category, approval, and review outcome. |
| Prohibited | Forbid the use regardless of convenience unless the policy is formally changed by an authorized person. | Uploading protected confidential material without authorization; using protected assets or source to train, imitate, reconstruct, or redistribute; bypassing platform safety rules; or falsely representing generated material as wholly human-created when a contract or disclosure rule requires disclosure. |
These are policy choices to adapt, not a quoted industry standard. The boundaries reflect the kinds of restrictions found in product-specific terms, an example software licence, platform rules, and game-industry ethics guidance. A studio should decide explicitly whether the allowed category includes code completion, rough ideation, or other low-risk tasks rather than leaving contractors to infer permission.
4. Set contractor duties and a review workflow
Assign duties to the contractor, reviewer, and approver. If the policy merely says “use AI responsibly,” it does not tell anyone what to do when a tool produces questionable code, an asset resembles third-party work, or a client asks whether a deliverable used AI.
Contractor responsibilities
- Use only approved tools and follow project-specific instructions; obtain written approval before any conditional use.
- Check outputs for factual and technical accuracy, security vulnerabilities, licensing or attribution concerns, harmful or unsuitable material, and consistency with the brief.
- Preserve source files and records of meaningful human-authored work where the agreement or project workflow requires it.
- Make disclosures to the studio when required by the policy, agreement, client, or platform, and promptly report suspected misuse or exposure of protected information.
Do not treat a vendor’s indemnity or a polished output as proof that a deliverable is safe to ship. Roblox’s rules, for example, place requirements on third-party AI outputs used in experiences on its platform. The studio and contractor still need to check rights, quality, safety, and applicable terms.
Review and provenance records
Require a proportionate record for approved or conditional uses: tool and model version if available, date, broad category of input without copying confidential data into the log, output used, meaningful human edits, reviewer, and approval. Define where records are kept, who may access them, and how long they are retained. Do not create a second repository of sensitive source code or personal data merely to document that it was used.
Human review is important for both delivery quality and authorship records, but a log does not itself establish copyright. The U.S. Copyright Office’s January 29, 2025 announcement states that generative AI output can be protected by U.S. copyright only where a human author has determined sufficient expressive elements. Its analysis treats human creative selection, arrangement, or modification as potentially relevant, while mere prompting is insufficient. AI assistance or inclusion of generated material does not, by itself, remove protection from a larger human-authored work. These are U.S.-specific copyright principles, not a worldwide ownership rule.
5. Review shipped content and player-facing AI separately
At release, check the current rules for every distribution platform, engine, and service involved. Keep an internal workflow register for contractors’ AI use separate from the release review for shipped content and player-facing generation; one cannot stand in for the other.
- Identify whether players can interact with a generative model and whether it can produce responses or other content visible to them.
- Check platform disclosure forms, safety requirements, content standards, and any rules for extended interactions near submission, since platform definitions and forms can change.
- Verify that third-party outputs and the feature’s safeguards comply with the platform’s current requirements; document who completed the review and when.
For Roblox, creators must disclose in the Content Maturity questionnaire when players can interact with a generative model in ways that trigger responses; Roblox also has rules for extended interactions and requires third-party AI outputs to meet its standards. Those are Roblox requirements, not automatic requirements for Steam or other platforms. Do not infer a platform disclosure duty solely from the fact that a contractor used an AI tool behind the scenes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.6. Put the policy into the agreement and name accountable people
Attach the policy to the contractor agreement or incorporate it by reference with a clear version and date. Make its relationship to the statement of work and project instructions explicit, including which instruction controls if terms conflict.
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Address the following in the agreement and related project documents:
- Ownership and permitted use of deliverables, contractor pre-existing materials, and third-party content.
- Confidentiality, approved tools, input restrictions, required disclosures, and provenance records.
- Whether subcontractors may use AI, what requirements flow down to them, and who is responsible for their compliance.
- Who may approve conditional use, how to request an exception, and what happens if the named approver is unavailable.
- How quickly a contractor must notify the studio about accidental disclosure, an unapproved tool or input, a suspected rights issue, or a policy breach—and where to report it.
Name a policy owner, an approval authority, and an incident-reporting route. The International Game Developers Association’s Code of Ethics calls for honoring agreements, respecting IP and confidentiality, and promoting the code within companies and with third-party contractors. Its guidance supports treating contractors as part of governance, rather than assuming an internal employee policy reaches them automatically.
Have qualified counsel adapt the terms to the governing jurisdiction and contractor relationship. Check worker classification, enforceability, privacy and IP obligations, collective agreements where relevant, and consistency with the master services agreement, client and publisher terms, and applicable platform rules. The IGDA Legal SIG identifies contracts, IP, data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity as relevant game-industry legal issues; the correct legal treatment depends on the specific engagement.
7. Roll out the policy and keep it current
- Inventory the work. List project tasks, tools, data categories, relevant engine or asset-library terms, client restrictions, and release platforms.
- Choose boundaries. Set the allowed, conditional, and prohibited categories, including whether use is permitted for internal work, shipped content, and player-facing features.
- Assign owners. Name the approver, policy owner, reviewer responsibilities, exception route, and incident contact before onboarding contractors.
- Incorporate and explain. Put the dated policy in the agreement or an incorporated document; provide project-specific instructions and a maintained approved-tool list during onboarding.
- Check before release. Revisit provider, engine, client, publisher, and platform terms when the tool, data flow, feature, or distribution target changes, and close to platform submission.
- Review after incidents or changes. Update the policy when a tool’s terms, project requirements, platform rules, or applicable law change, and communicate the new version to affected contractors.
There is no established figure here for how many studios permit contractor AI use, and the existence of examples from individual platforms or product licences does not establish an industry-wide norm. Build the policy around the project’s actual risk, agreements, and release destinations rather than assuming other studios’ practices apply.
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