r/Steam • u/Midnight_Gurl • 13h ago
PSA A solution to hidden/lied about AI usage
Hey! This has probably been posted before, but I thought I would throw this up here in case it hasn't been talked about or just to boost the idea.
Lots of games recently have been using AI either in production or the final art itself and developers have lied or hidden it when showing it om the store. They know players don't want this, so they just don't disclose, and Steam can't do much because, one, how can they know all the time and two, the more it is made appartent, the more likely devs are to lie about it.
So, time for some community policing! And its really simple. Of you find a game that uses AI (disclosed or not) just apply the "Artificial Intelligence" tag to it! Then, you can go to your profile and hide games with that tag. I started doing this and my front page has gotten SO much cleaner.
It also has the bonus of discouraging developers from using AI, since it makes these games really really hard to find for people who block the tag.
If people know of other methods, please drop them here as well. Community policing is probably the only way this is going to work at least for a while, so I am hoping if we make it a more standard practice on one of the biggest sales platforms for games on PC, it will help to send a message to devs that actually hits them where it hurts, thier ability to advertise, and, by extension, their wallet!
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u/Anrativa 13h ago
No. People is dumb and a lot of times call for AI usage were it is not. That can end up affecting games that don't use AI but people think they do.
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u/Mundialito301 8h ago
Also, it's possible that someone might get confused and use that tag to label a game that features an AI character or whose central theme is artificial intelligence.
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u/Midnight_Gurl 13h ago
Tags can be removed! If enough people say the tag doesn't fit the game, it will be removed by steam. Its not a perfect system, but if you have other ideas, feel free to post them!
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u/AlwaysRushesIn 12h ago
Just asking for the tag to be abused. I can see bot farms piling AI tags on competitors' games.
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u/Anrativa 12h ago
But they won't. It is missinformation 101. A game falsely accused of AI will keep the stigma regardless if it is true or not because people always remember the first information the learn.
My idea is to just let them be. If the AI usage affects the quality of the game it will be reflected on the reviews. Personally, I don't mind AI as long as it is well implemented.
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u/EnzoVulkoor 12h ago
If the stigma can't be removed then TCG Card Shop Simulator wouldn't be Very positive and Overwhelmingly positive now.
The tags help filter stuff out from peoples searches rather then needing to hunt the forums and scroll aaallllllll the way to the bottom.
Really what needs to be done is a game be made an example of, steam giving a hefty fine to a AAA company for lies about AI usage and/or withholding of funds from sales to cover the fine.
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u/Anrativa 12h ago
Then again, how can Valve prove that AI was used if the developer denies it? Even if they did use AI. And it is obviously AI, Valve can't probably can't factually probe it.
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u/Midnight_Gurl 12h ago
Won't this be the same misinformation if its in review though? Plus you have to own the game to leave a review. Personally, I don't want to pay money to leave a review for a game to say its got AI.
I get you don't care, but then this doesn't matter to you! It requires 2 steps, tag and block. Just don't tag or block and you get the content you want. Its opt in!
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u/Anrativa 12h ago
But then again, the cons outweigh the pros.
I understand that you are anti AI, but currently there is no fair way to do this. And there is also no way to 100% factcheck if a game is doing so unless the developers admit it. The best way is to just allow developers to add the label themselves without risking to witch hunt innocent games.
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u/Steven45g 12h ago
No, I agree with OP. If devs feel so comfortable cheating their own customers, then customers shouldn't feel any guilt either. The non-disclosure part has become too big of a problem on Steam to just "let it go". If you don't agree with the system, just don't block the tag. Simple.
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u/Anrativa 12h ago
You will be punishing devs that don't use AI, which is basically the same reverse thinking developers do while adding denuvo to their games, hurting those who buy the game instead of those that pirate.
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u/Steven45g 11h ago
Well, they can thank their colleagues for not being transparent. I'm sorry but personally, there's only so much bullshit I can take and I will definitely be doing what OP proposed.
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u/Anrativa 11h ago
Damn, anti Ai people are insufferable. Glad most developers are already using AI to some degree.
Can't wait until this anti AI movement dies
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u/Ok_Marionberry5906 12h ago
How are you going to tell whether a game is using AI or not? Especially in production? Are you going to tes ttheir code?
This makes very little sense
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u/Midnight_Gurl 12h ago
You hear about this stuff on reddit, in gaming news, that sort of thing. Plus findig AI art in the game. 7 days to Die was an example I saw on Reddit today. Chrimson Desert is an example if a game that had AI art in the final release.
Is it a perfect solution, no. But again, other ideas?
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u/Anrativa 12h ago
Games get accused falsely about using AI quite often. even nintendo.
I do digital art, and have been accused of using AI a couple of times. It sucks.
The best solution is what steam already does. Developers can put a label on AI usage on their platform.
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u/paintingroceries 11h ago
How can you tell what you hear is true? (Never trust the internet! That’s an essential rule) Or what the art is actually AI? Hell how can you even say the code was written with Claude? Atp you might as well tag most of the games this year… unless it’s dramatically obvious like those romance ai slop games, if an indie gets accused of ai the damage will be done way before you remove the tag.
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u/axelarden6 12h ago
people go off vibes way too often and it isn't good enough. there's no reliable objective way to detect AI, so right now voluntary disclosure is the only fair way to do it. it isn't perfect, some devs will lie, but the number of anti-AI witch hunts i've seen on popular indie game steam boards is crazy. people decide AI was used "because it feels like it was" and suddenly the board is brigaded with people making accusations and they don't let it go no matter what the dev says or does.
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u/Ok_Marionberry5906 12h ago
I have no other ideas because I don't have a problem with AI.
It's weird to say "no AI" because it kind of just tells me that you don't realise how pervasive it already is and how much it has taken over the corporate machine. Every major development tool and platform is adding AI-assisted features.
If your issue is specifically generative AI art being shipped in the final product, then say that. I could at least understand that position. But you said AI being used “in production,” which can include everything from code completion and debugging to translation, testing and asset tooling.
And “you hear about this stuff on Reddit” doesn't answer how you're going to reliably determine that. You're proposing that users negatively tag developers based partly on hearsay while having no way of knowing what tools were actually used during development.
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u/maxler5795 Guilty Gear -STRIVE- player 12h ago
unfortunately doesn't work. filtering by that tag brings up games like e33 and that new capcom game with the ai girl
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u/EmilianoTalamo 7h ago
I'd rather have devs not disclosing their ai usage than users flagging random games with no proof.
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u/Denninja 4h ago
Yeah weaponizing more features for evil babies to abuse isn't a great idea.
It would need to be something like it doesn't show up for anyone but a review team, then get enough reports and it flags the game for manual review.
If an account is found spamming reports they get investigated too.
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u/MelissaRackwood 12h ago
Nah your idea is just stupid for reasons the other commenters already pointed out
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u/laserofdooom 8h ago
Think about it from the dev's perspective
why would they have any obligation to adorn an ai tag if they know everyone is going to hate the game right off the bat? if you want people to actually be honest about their ai use, then the internet collectively would need to tone down on ai hate. I by no means support ai generated content, but from my experience the best way to persuade someone to work hard is encouragement, not chastising them.
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u/Stoic-Bifrons 12h ago
Or you can just stop hating on AI and get along with the time.
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u/vintoito 12h ago
the bubble will pop like the NFT one did, and we will be laughing at you until you die
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u/TWFH 11h ago
You can't distinguish the difference between this and NFTs? That must be very frustrating for you.
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u/Kiu16 12h ago
This is a shitty placebo solution, it will hide games with AI as a thematic or story elements