AI will be involved in nearly all future production,” says Epic Games boss, so having Steam games disclose whether they were built with AI makes “no sense

Making developers disclose whether or not generative AI has been used during the making of a game, and how, “makes no sense”, according to Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney.

Sweeney made the remarks while responding to a post on X by former Unreal Engine developer Matt Workman (who, incidentally, uses generative AI in his motion capture work) who said: “Steam and all digital marketplaces need to drop the ‘Made with AI’ label. It doesn’t matter any more.”

“Agreed,” agreed Sweeney. “The AI tag is relevant to art exhibits for authorship disclosure, and to digital content licensing marketplaces where buyers need to understand the rights situation. It makes no sense for game stores, where AI will be involved in nearly all future production.”

Sweeney then followed his comment a few hours’ later with another post that read, “Why stop at AI use? We could have mandatory disclosures for what shampoo brand the developer uses. Customers deserve to know lol.”

The ‘made with AI’ labels Sweeney and Workman are referring to are mandatory disclosures developers must make on Steam if their game contains traces of AI use. Take Arc Raiders’ Steam page, for example: its “AI Generated Content Disclosure” explains that, “During the development process, we may use procedural- and AI-based tools to assist with content creation. In all such cases, the final product reflects the creativity and expression of our own development team.” Arc Raiders’ Epic Games Store page does not carry such a disclosure.

Sweeney’s comments have understandably provoked reaction across the gaming industry, with decorated indie developer Mike Bithell, of Bithell Games, posting on Bluesky: “I just find this really sad. Imagine being so certain that you need slop machines to do your work, that you convince yourself that EVERYBODY must need them,” he wrote.

Sweeney’s declaration that “AI will be involved in nearly all future production” suggests Epic might be looking at using it across its colossal business – a business that includes Fortnite, the ubiquitous Unreal Engine, and the Steam-like Epic Games Store. And if it does, that decision will likely reverberate across the industry.

Generative AI use in game development remains a contentious issue, as studios figure out how to potentially embrace this powerful technology without risking people’s jobs – assuming that is even possible. South Korean company Krafton, which makes PUBG and Inzoi, has taken considerable flak for announcing it is now an “AI-first” company and offering voluntary redundancy to staff who don’t want to be a part of that.

PUBG creator Brendan Greene has distanced himself and his Krafton-backed studio PlayerUnknown Productions from that approach, saying “I’ve been really heartened to see the community revolt against AI stuff”. Meanwhile, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the game director of The Witcher 3 and co-director of Cyberpunk 2077, believes games made with AI will have no soul, but also that there can be good uses of AI during development.