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Steam has two generative-AI disclosure categories, and the dividing line is when the player-facing output is made. Pre-generated content is created during development and ships in the game or its Steam-facing materials. Live-generated content is produced while the game is running, such as an NPC response generated during play. Both categories concern AI-created content that players consume—not every AI tool used by a development team. Valve’s current Content Survey also covers the game’s store page, Steam community assets and marketing materials, so a generated capsule image can matter even when no generated asset is in the executable.
Pre-generated disclosures require a description of how AI was used. Live-generated disclosures require that description plus an explanation of safeguards against illegal output. Completing the survey does not exempt a game from Steam’s ordinary content, copyright or marketing rules.
At a glance
| Name | Best for | Key spec | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-generated | AI-created assets made before release | Ships with the game or its Steam-facing materials and is consumed by players; written use description required | Nov 2026 |
| Live-generated | AI output created during gameplay | Runtime output; written use description plus illegal-content guardrails and player reporting path | Nov 2026 |
What is the difference between pre-generated and live-generated AI on Steam?
Valve’s test has two parts: when the generative system creates the output and whether players consume that output. The Steamworks Content Survey describes pre-generated content as content created with AI tools during development that ships with the game and is consumed by players. Live-generated content is created with AI tools while the game is running.
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Valve’s current wording names artwork, sound, narrative and localization as examples. The rule can also reach dialogue, textures, voice lines, music, translations, store copy, capsule art, trailers and Steam community assets when those materials are generated and shown to customers.
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| Question | Pre-generated | Live-generated |
|---|---|---|
| When does the AI run? | During development, before release | During a player’s session |
| What can Valve review before release? | The actual shipped assets | Your system description and safeguards; the future output does not yet exist |
| What must the developer file? | A description of how AI was used | A description of use and the guardrails that prevent illegal content |
| What appears publicly? | Much of the disclosure on the store page | The disclosure, plus a Steam overlay route for reporting illegal generated content |
| Adult Only sexual content | Reviewed under the same rules as other adult content | Valve does not ship this category at present |
What counts as pre-generated AI content?
Pre-generated means the output is made before the game ships, then included in something players see, hear or read. The fact that a human later edits the output does not automatically remove it from the category; the relevant question is whether AI helped create the player-facing material.
- Visuals: sprites, textures, backgrounds, 3D models, UI art, illustrations and other in-game images.
- Audio: voice lines, text-to-speech, music and sound effects.
- Written material: dialogue, quests, lore, item descriptions, tutorials and other narrative text.
- Localization: translations shipped in the game or used on its store page.
- Store and marketing material: capsule art, trailer shots, store-page copy and Steam community assets.
A generated background that was baked into a level is a straightforward pre-generated example. So is an AI-produced soundtrack, even if the developer selected and mixed the tracks. A translation generated for the store page can also be in scope because customers consume it before buying.
What counts as live-generated AI content?
Live-generated content is produced after the game starts, in response to player input, game state or an online request. Typical examples include an NPC whose dialogue is generated on demand, an image created from a player’s prompt, or audio generated during a mission.
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Live generation has an extra obligation because Valve cannot inspect every future response in a prerelease build. The Content Survey asks what guardrails prevent illegal content. Valve does not prescribe one technical architecture, but a credible explanation can cover input filtering, output scanning, blocklists, topic restrictions, rate limits, logging and moderation supplied by a third-party service. Describe what your system actually does rather than listing safeguards you do not operate.
Steam also provides an in-game overlay path for players to report generated content they believe should have been blocked. Your interface and support process should make that route understandable, especially if generated text, images or audio can be shared with other players.
Can a game use both categories?
Yes. A game can disclose pre-generated assets and live-generated systems in the same submission. For example, an AI-assisted soundtrack made during development is pre-generated, while an NPC language model that creates replies during play is live-generated. Complete the relevant sections for both uses instead of forcing the project into one label.
Do I have to disclose AI-written code?
Valve’s current documentation says that efficiency gains from AI-powered tools in modern development environments are not the focus of this section. Code completion, debugging assistance, test helpers, brainstorming and internal design documents generally do not become a disclosure merely because they helped the team work faster and no generated player-facing content ships.
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This is a statement about the survey’s current focus, not a named exemption for a particular coding product. Valve’s 2024 announcement mentioned “code” among development-time examples, but the January 2026 rewrite shifted the wording toward content that ships and is consumed by players. If a coding tool produces text, art, audio or another asset that players actually consume, classify that output under the player-facing test. Traditional game AI—pathfinding, physics, enemy behavior and ordinary procedural systems—is also different from a generative system that creates new content from prompts or inputs.
Does my Steam capsule image or store page count?
It can. The threshold question in the developer form covers “the game itself, the store page, and any Steam community assets or marketing materials.” Therefore, an AI-generated capsule image, trailer shot, store description or community graphic may require disclosure even when the executable contains no generated pixels.
Write the explanation for customers, not only for a reviewer. State what was generated, where it appears and what the team changed. For example: “Some background textures and ambient sound effects were created with AI tools and edited by our team. All characters, music and dialogue were made by people.” That wording is an example from an independent guide, not a Valve-approved template; accuracy matters more than a particular phrase.
How do I complete Steam’s AI disclosure?
Have the player-facing inventory ready before submitting the Content Survey. The survey has General Content, Mature Content and Generative Artificial Intelligence Content sections, and Valve compares the answers with the build and store page.
- Inventory every output. List shipped art, audio, text, localization and promotional assets that were created with generative tools. Separate outputs made during development from outputs created at runtime.
- Check the consumption test. Include anything players see, hear or read in the game, store page, Steam community area or marketing materials. Keep internal-only experiments out unless their output later reaches customers.
- Describe pre-generated use. Identify the asset types, where they appear and the extent of human editing or selection.
- Describe live-generation safeguards. Explain filtering, output checks, topic restrictions, rate limits, logs, moderation services and how a player reports a failure. Do not claim controls that are not implemented.
- Review the public wording. Much of the submitted disclosure appears on the store page under a heading commonly reported as AI Generated Content Disclosure. Make the prose understandable to a buyer.
- Recheck after patches. If an update adds generated assets or changes live generation, contact Steam Support when the existing survey answer cannot be edited. Include what changed, which result is affected and instructions for a tester to reach it.
The current Steamworks documentation is the controlling source for the form and its definitions: Steamworks Content Survey.
Does disclosure make a game acceptable to Steam?
No. Disclosure is not permission. Valve evaluates AI output under the same Steam Distribution Agreement promises applied to non-AI content: the product must not contain illegal or infringing material and must be consistent with its marketing. A completed survey cannot cure prohibited content, rights problems or a misleading store page.
The submission section is mandatory before review, but Valve has not published an automated detector, a public penalty ladder or a count of actions for inaccurate disclosures. The practical standard is self-attested accuracy followed by human review against the build and the page. Do not describe the label as optional simply because enforcement statistics are not public.
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What are the rules for AI-generated adult content?
Pre-generated sexual content is reviewed under the same rules as other adult content, including the game’s mature-content disclosures and applicable legal restrictions. Live-generated Adult Only sexual content is different: Valve’s FAQ says the legal and customer risks are substantial enough that it does not want to ship that content at this time.
That restriction concerns sexual content generated during gameplay. It does not mean every game using AI-made adult artwork is automatically rejected; the ordinary content rules still determine whether pre-generated material can ship.
How do players see or filter the disclosure?
Valve places much of the developer’s text on the public store page in an AI Generated Content Disclosure section. Steam does not provide an official store tag that hides every disclosed game, so the normal “Tags To Exclude” control cannot natively remove the category. A third-party SteamDB filter called “AI Content Disclosed” can identify games whose developers made a disclosure, but it cannot catch projects that failed to disclose.
Who pays for live-generated AI requests?
If runtime generation calls a service that charges per input or output, the developer must manage access and payment through a Steam-supported method. Valve’s listed approaches include folding the cost into the base price, selling microtransactions for individual interactions, offering a subscription for continuing access, or selling a single-purchase DLC that unlocks unlimited interactions.
Explain any limits clearly. A game that silently stops responding when an external quota is exhausted creates a different customer experience from one that offers a defined number of interactions or an unlimited-access purchase.
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Valve does not publish a bright-line list for every asset pipeline. The official test remains whether AI helped create content that ships with the game and is consumed by players.
Upscaling, denoising, background filling and voice cleanup illustrate the uncertainty. Some independent guides advise disclosure whenever AI-generated pixels, audio or words remain in the shipped result; another guide says upscaling or denoising of assets made by the team need not be disclosed. Those readings conflict, and Valve has not selected one in the documentation. When the transformed output is player-facing, documenting the process and disclosing it is the more transparent interpretation; when an AI experiment is completely replaced and never reaches players, it is outside the stated focus.
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If a tool changes a player-facing asset in a material way, keep a record of what happened and ask Steam publishing support when the classification is unclear. Do not invent a categorical exemption based on a tool’s marketing description.
Why did Steam rewrite the form in 2026?
Valve announced the two-category survey on 9 January 2024, saying it wanted to release the vast majority of games using AI while making usage visible to customers. On 16 January 2026, the form was rewritten to emphasize shipped, player-consumed content and to clarify that efficiency gains from AI-powered development tools were not the focus.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe change reflects a rapidly growing use of generative systems. VGC, citing a July 2025 analysis, reported nearly 8,000 Steam releases in the first six months of 2025 with disclosed generative-AI use, compared with about 1,000 across all of 2024. GamesIndustry.biz reported a Totally Human Media analysis putting disclosed AI use at 7% of Steam games, up from 1.1% the year before. A GDC survey reported by VGC found 52% of developers worked at companies using generative-AI tools; in the 2026 reporting, 9% said their companies were interested in such tools, down from 15%, while 27% said their companies had no interest.
For a snapshot of visibility rather than a Valve statistic, Asset Forge Index cited SteamDB’s 21 October 2026 Steam Next Fest data: 2,628 of 7,217 games-only listings carried the “AI Content Disclosed” filter, about 36%. SteamDB’s figure counts disclosures it can identify and should not be treated as a complete census of Steam titles.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How is Steam different from itch.io?
Storefront policies are not interchangeable. VibeStack Weekly reported that itch.io’s form, in use since 20 November 2024, asks whether a project contains generative-AI results in graphics, sound, text and dialogue, or code, and applies tags automatically. itch.io therefore treats code synthesized by a large language model as a possible content category even though Steam’s current wording focuses on player-consumed content and says efficiency tools are not the focus.
Classic pathfinding-style game AI is not generative AI on either policy’s described test. If a project ships on multiple stores, complete each storefront’s form independently rather than copying Steam’s answer to another platform.
What should a disclosure say?
A useful disclosure is specific, limited and readable. Name the content type, its location and the role of human editing. For a runtime system, add the player-facing report path and summarize the safeguards without promising perfect moderation.
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- Pre-generated example: “AI tools helped create several background textures and ambient effects used in the game. Our team selected and edited those assets; character art, music and dialogue were made by people.”
- Live-generated example: “NPC conversations are generated during play by a language model. Inputs and responses pass through content filters, characters are restricted to in-game topics, and players can report a response from the in-game menu.”
These are illustrative formulations, not Valve templates. Replace every broad phrase with the facts of your build, store page and moderation system.
How we picked the distinctions
The categories above follow Valve’s current Steamworks definitions: timing of generation, player consumption, the extra guardrail requirement for live systems, public store disclosure, and the continuing application of Steam’s ordinary content rules. Secondary reporting was used only to explain the January 2026 rewrite, examples developers commonly encounter and the attributed industry figures; it does not override Valve’s wording.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change a Steam AI disclosure after release?
Some survey answers cannot be edited directly after release. If a patch changes the affected content or adds live generation, contact Steam Support with a summary of the change, the result it affects and precise tester instructions.
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Does a human-edited AI asset still need disclosure?
Human editing does not create an automatic exemption. If generative tools helped create material that remains in content players consume, describe that use and explain the editing accurately.
Can Steam players block every game with an AI disclosure?
Steam has no official global exclusion tag for this category, so its built-in tag-exclusion controls cannot hide all disclosed titles. Third-party databases may offer filters, but they only reflect disclosures they have identified.
What happens if a live AI service runs out of quota?
The developer remains responsible for access and payment arrangements when the service has per-request costs. Steam lists a base-price model, interaction microtransactions, subscriptions and an unlocking DLC as possible ways to fund continuing access.
