AI this, AI that - you can't go anywhere without something trying to force AI on you. Usually a company trying to get you to buy into what they've wasted billions on. So indie devs have begun fighting back with their No Gen AI Seal.
There's an increasing amount of developers using some form of AI generation from small developers to the AAA lot that I keep spotting recently, and so you might want to pick some out that are actually 100% human made. While Steam (being the easiest example) does have newer rules around AI disclosures, these are buried at the bottom of store pages and can be pretty easy to miss.
One way would be for developers to put a big badge on a store page to show off their human side, and that's exactly what some indie developers have chosen to start doing.
Announced by Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou of Polygon Treehouse (Mythwrecked & Röki) on Bluesky, they've launched the free to use No Gen AI Seal available via the Polygon Treehouse website. Writing about why it can be problematic the website states:
Generative AI is a technology that can create pictures, movies, audio (music or voice action) and writing using artificial intelligence. The issue is that these generative technologies are trained on existing works by human artists who have not given their permission, or been compensated, for their work being utilised. Essentially their work has been stolen.
The seal looks like this:
You can see it on the store pages for the likes of Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island, Rosewater and more in the sidebar.
Perhaps in future we might see stores add specific filters to select "No Gen AI". It's clearly a growing market though, which is what pushed Valve to add their new disclosure rules, and we're likely to see a whole lot more games use generative AI as time goes on. It's going to get more messy and confusing for consumers as time goes on, at least until the ridiculous bubble finally bursts.
There's a lot of silliness going around like how Phil Spencer of Microsoft Gaming thinks generative AI will help game preservation and the Take-Two CEO believing AI will increase employment and productivity. Going by the latest 2025 GDC Survey there's clearly a lot of developers concerned about it and plenty working in companies currently using it.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
mr-victory 6 hours ago
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hardpenguin 4 hours ago
Please also make a stamp for "No Procedurally Generated Junk".
Would this void the use of this badge?If you use generative AI, you don't get to display this badge. Seems clear enough to me. This is specifically about the use of generative AI, not quality or anything else. I don't see why you'd go looking for loopholes.
Arehandoro 3 hours ago
If you use generative AI, you don't get to display this badge.
In that case, I'm pretty sure no one will be able to use the badge. Code completion is somewhat based in AI. If someone searches on Google and the summary given by Gemini is correct, and they use it, they'll have used GenAI... I think what @Drakker is asking it's a valid question.
What if I write a game in french and use the help of ChatGPT to translate it? The material is already mine, its not stolen.The source- and target- language materials used to train the LLM to perform translation are stolen, even if the text you give it to translate isn’t, so it’s exactly the same as other uses.
We'll see how that is going in 5-10 years
Personally, I'd rather indies use what tools are available to them and make good games than reserving game making only for those who can afford everything hand-made.
Generative AI isn't the devil, the corporate-minded "people" who started stealing left and right to create it are. It's a tool without sin, and the good or evil it can cause is solely based on the people who use it. It's also not going away, even once the bubble burst, and even when it does burst, it's because it's become cheap enough to run smarter models cheaply on consumer hardware, which is already happening.
The technology isn't being targeted here. This is specifically about current generative "AI" products being trained on material without original artists' permission, because that's pretty much the only way to source a large enough set of high quality source material. That's what artists, writers and other copyright owners object to. And I tend to agree with them. Ends do not justify the means.
If someone searches on Google and the summary given by Gemini is correct, and they use it, they'll have used GenAI...Then how about not including that AI-generated summary in your game?
Again, all it might prevent you from doing is using this badge to promote your game. I'd say "you don't get to have your cake and eat it too", but this is barely a cake. There's no need to be dramatic.
This is just something a bunch of indie devs proud of their work have come up with to promote the fact that they don't take shortcuts at the potential cost of using someone else's IP without permission.
Kimyrielle 48 minutes ago
This is solely about whether or not using people's works to train LLMs is still fair use or not. That question is currently before the courts.I don’t need a court to tell me whether I think it’s fair that my work is being used without my consent to generate profit for others, regardless of the license I chose for it. What’s even the point of licenses if companies can just use whatever they want however they want? Why should I pay for things if they don’t have to?
Kimyrielle 26 minutes ago
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