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Steam AI disclosure and commercial use: a checklist for solo devs
Last reviewed 2026-10-15. Primary source: Steamworks Content Survey documentation. Not legal advice.
What Valve asks you to disclose
- Valve's content survey has a generative AI section concerned with "the use of AI in creating content that ships with your game, and is consumed by players", such as artwork, sound, narrative and localization (Steamworks).
- Pre-generated content is AI-assisted content made during development that ships with the game. Valve reviews it like any other content, including checking that it isn't illegal or infringing.
- Live-generated content is created by AI while the game runs. You must also describe the guardrails that stop it generating illegal content.
- Valve says efficiency gains from AI-powered tools built into development environments are "not the focus" of this section. Coverage of the January 2026 update says coding helpers don't need disclosing, but store-page and marketing assets made with AI do (Game Developer, PC Gamer).
Before you ship AI assets: a checklist
- Check the licence of the plan you were on when you generated the asset. Some vendors don't license free-tier output retroactively. Suno, for example, says subscribing later does not license songs made on the free plan (Suno help).
- Free tiers that don't allow commercial use (per our data): Leonardo.Ai, Recraft, Tripo, Sloyd, Cascadeur, ElevenLabs, Suno, Udio, Stable Audio, Fish Audio, Murf AI, Rosebud AI.
- Free tiers that need attribution: Meshy. Add the credit to your game credits, or pick from the no-attribution list.
- Keep records: the tool, the plan at generation time, and the date. If the vendor's terms change later, our tracked changes and each tool's changelog show what the terms said and when.
- Write your Steam disclosure describing which content is AI-generated (art, audio, text) and, for live generation, your guardrails.
FAQ
Do I have to disclose AI coding assistants on Steam?
Valve's content survey says efficiency gains from AI-powered development tools are not the focus of its AI section; it covers AI-created content that ships with the game and is consumed by players.
What AI content must be disclosed on Steam?
Pre-generated content that ships with your game (art, sound, narrative, localization; per coverage of Valve's January 2026 update, also store page and marketing materials) and live-generated content, for which you must also describe guardrails.
Can I sell a Steam game made with AI assets?
Valve reviews pre-generated AI content like any other content, including that it is not illegal or infringing. You also need a licence from the tool: several free tiers do not allow commercial use.
Check a specific tool
Commercial-use answers for all 31 tools · Best tools by use case
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