ChatGpt cannot enter here. Steam, the largest online store, will not sell AI-generated games
Since AI copy more than create, the digital video game retailer Steam has decided to exclude from the catalog titles that, by exploiting artificial intelligence, could present problems of copyright infringement
To fully understand the logic behind the decisions made in the last few hours by Valve, the software house that made its fortune by setting up the main digital version of videogame e-commerce (reductive explanation, given that Steam is also a community, not just a online store) we need to start from an assumption: at the moment AI does not create. Copy.
THOSE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCIES SCRIPT
We don't know if it's just a phase (experts say yes), but AIs are currently "plundering" the Net in search of other people's creations, putting them together in a more or less natural, more or less successful, more or less inspired way. attempt to honor the user's request.
Do you know the old quilts of grandmothers, made with patches from old sheets, old clothes (patchwork, they are even fashionable today)? Here, basically any AI work works just like this: the algorithms take a piece here, a piece there and assemble them giving life to ircocervi that don't have a great respect for copyright.
WHY STEAM CLOSES THE DOOR TO AI GAMES
This is a necessary premise to understand not only the functioning of the AI (but the experts, in fact, reiterate that the wild scraping phase will be followed by the truly creative one, after they have eaten a sufficient number of other people's data), but also and above all the decision of Steam.
The report for the moment comes from the editorial staff of the sector magazine VGC , according to which Valve has started to ban games with AI-generated assets from Steam, unless the developers demonstrate that they have rights to the IP used in the data set that he trained artificial intelligence to create them.
WHO IS LIABLE FOR AI DAMAGES?
At the moment, as is known, there are no precise rules: it is not known who is liable for a defamation for a piece written by ChatGpt, just as it is not known who compensates the author of a work that should be included in the puzzles of other creative AIs . But when in doubt, as we are seeing, those who manage the platforms start to back away, because there is a high fear that the managers of the places where the transactions take place will be called into question.
Even on the alleged bannum of Steam to products developed using materials assembled by AI there is a certain confusion and no formalization: we only have what the developer testified on Reddit , who claims that Steam has rejected the publication of his game, which had some assets " obviously generated by AI”. The developer in question claims that the assets would still have been "hand-enhanced after publication". But anyhow the sword of Damocles of copyright is scary.
The developer said that he had manually improved the assets in question "so that there were no more obvious signs of the AI", but after resubmitting the game it was again rejected by Valve for the same reasons. Yes, but which ones?
WHAT STEAM SAYS ABOUT AI GAMES
"After examining the game, we have identified an intellectual property that appears to belong to one or more third parties.", the response that Valve has delivered to the developer in question.
“In particular – we read in the reasons with which the video game was excluded from the Steam library -, it contains artistic assets generated by artificial intelligence that appear to be based on material protected by third party copyright. Since the legal ownership of such AI-generated artwork is unclear, we cannot publish your game if it contains these AI-generated assets, unless you can confirm that you own the rights to all IP used in the set of data that trained the AI to create the assets in your game.”
LAYOUTS IN THE WORLD OF VIDEO GAMES
The economic crisis and the increase in inflation have slowed down the sales of products that pertain to the sphere of entertainment, leading to a new season of layoffs in the videogames sector. All of this is further exacerbated by the availability of AI that can easily replace dozens of creatives, representing a great opportunity for savings for studios.
While waiting for rules that safeguard the performance of human work and try to put an end to this absurd situation in which we compete against the tireless and inexhaustible artificial intelligences, decisions such as those of Steam, although dictated by very different reasons, could nonetheless help to stem a phenomenon that is spreading like wildfire, in the disinterest of all legislators.
THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE
In the world of video games, at least in China, similar cleanups have already begun and have been so traumatic as to lead several software houses that had excessively intertwined their video games with AI along the lines of ChatGpt to reverse gear and apologize in some cases to users. But the damage is done in some sectors: according to the Rest of World report in China, the search for professional illustrators for video games has decreased by 70% due to artificial intelligence.
IBM'S DARK WARNING
In short, the words recently expressed by the CEO of IBM , Arvind Krishna , sound like a rather gloomy warning, according to which thanks to ChatGpt & co. it will be possible to cut thousands of jobs, freezing the recruitment of 7,800 job positions which will be replaced precisely by algorithms.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/chatgpt-qui-non-puo-entrare-steam-il-piu-grande-store-online-non-vendera-giochi-generati-dallia/ on Sat, 01 Jul 2023 05:49:55 +0000.