In the United States, an AI system can generally reuse a game’s broad idea or gameplay system, but it cannot safely copy the game’s expressive implementation without permission or a valid legal defense. Copyright does not protect ideas, rules, procedures, systems, or methods of operation. It can protect the code, artwork, music, dialogue, characters, animations, level presentation, and audiovisual work used to express those ideas. AI does not create a special exemption: it changes questions about authorship and ownership of a new output, not the basic rules against copying someone else’s protected expression.
The short answer: what can be reused and what creates risk?
| Material or conduct | Typical U.S. copyright position | Practical risk |
|---|---|---|
| A broad gameplay concept, such as matching, jumping, turn order, or resource management | Ideas, systems, procedures, and methods of operation are outside copyright protection under 17 U.S.C. §102(b). | Usually lower, provided the implementation is independently created. |
| Rules expressed in distinctive written language, tutorials, level scripts, or dialogue | The underlying rule may be unprotected, but the particular wording can be protected expression. | Medium to high if text is copied or closely paraphrased. |
| Source code, scripts, shaders, or decompiled code | Computer programs are literary works; protected expression can include code structure and text, subject to ideas, methods, and other limits. | High without a license or documented clean-room process. |
| Textures, concept art, 3D models, character designs, animations, music, sound effects, or cinematics | These can be pictorial, graphic, sculptural, musical, dramatic, or audiovisual works. | High when an output is recognizable as the original asset or substantially similar. |
| An AI-generated asset that merely uses a general genre or visual convention | Genre conventions and unprotectable elements can be used, but a close recreation of protected expression can infringe. | Depends on similarity, source, human edits, and market effect. |
| A raw AI output with no sufficient human creative contribution | The Copyright Office’s January 29, 2025 report says machine-determined material is not protected merely because someone wrote a prompt. | You may have weak or no copyright in the output, even if it does not infringe another work. |
This is a U.S.-focused explanation, not a case-specific legal opinion. Other countries can apply different rules, and statutes or court decisions can change the analysis.
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Why ideas and expression are treated differently
The central rule is 17 U.S.C. §102(b): “In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery.” The rule prevents one copyright owner from controlling an entire genre or basic way of playing a game.
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The implementation can still be protected
The same mechanic can be expressed in many different ways. The particular source code, written rules, user-interface labels, animation timing, level layout, character designs, music, sound cues, story, and visual presentation may be protected even when the mechanic is not. The Copyright Office summarizes the distinction this way: “Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.”
For example, “combine three adjacent objects to clear them” describes a functional rule. Copying another game’s exact board art, item names, level maps, instructional sentences, sound sequence, and character animation would involve expressive elements that go beyond the rule itself.
What parts of a game can carry copyright?
A commercial game can contain several overlapping copyrighted works rather than one indivisible object. Section 102(a) identifies literary, musical, dramatic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and audiovisual works as copyright subject matter. The Copyright Office treats video games as examples of audiovisual works for registration purposes.
Code and technical assets
Source code and some related program materials can be protected as literary works. Copyright does not give exclusive control over every function a program performs, and it does not protect ideas, algorithms, systems, or methods of operation as such. It can, however, cover original code text and creative structure. Copying a code segment, a distinctive set of scripts, or decompiling and reusing protected material creates substantially more risk than independently writing code that produces a similar function.
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Visual, audio, and narrative assets
Copyright may cover concept and production art, textures, sprites, models, lighting designs, interface graphics, animations, music, sound recordings, dialogue, cut-scenes, character illustrations, and story text. A new asset need not be pixel-for-pixel identical to create a problem if it appropriates protected expressive details and is substantially similar under the circumstances.
The audiovisual compilation
The sequence players see and hear—menus, camera behavior, transitions, cinematics, effects, and coordinated presentation—can be protected as an audiovisual work. Recreating an unmistakable sequence or presentation is different from using the same abstract game rule with a genuinely different audiovisual treatment.
What AI changes about ownership—and what it does not
The U.S. Copyright Office released Part 2 of its artificial-intelligence report on January 29, 2025, after receiving more than 10,000 responsive comments. Its position is that AI assistance, or inclusion of AI-generated material in a larger human-created work, does not automatically prevent copyright in the human-authored portions.
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Copyright can cover perceptible human-authored expression and creative human selection, arrangement, or modification. A person who directs an AI tool, chooses among generations, substantially edits an image, composes the surrounding work, or arranges elements creatively may have protectable contributions. A prompt alone does not automatically make every machine-determined detail the user’s copyrighted expression.
Authorship is separate from infringement
Whether you own rights in your new output is a different question from whether the output copied someone else’s work. An AI-generated character may be difficult to protect if its expressive details were determined entirely by the machine, yet it can still infringe if it reproduces a recognizable protected character from another game. Conversely, a human-authored, original asset can be protected even when AI assisted with brainstorming or editing.
Can you train an AI model on game art or code?
There is no blanket U.S. rule saying that training on copyrighted game files is always lawful or always unlawful. The Copyright Office has identified training on copyrighted works, licensing, and allocation of liability as continuing policy and legal questions. Treat the issue as unsettled rather than assuming that a model can ingest any game files.
Source and permission are critical
- Public-domain material, material released under a compatible license, and material for which you obtained permission present a stronger starting position than unlicensed game files.
- A license may limit copying, automated access, model training, redistribution, commercial use, or derivative works. Read the actual terms for the files and the model.
- Accessing files through a game’s terms of service, a development agreement, or a platform account can create contractual obligations separate from copyright.
- Keep records of where each training or reference asset came from, what permission covered, and which version of the terms applied.
Training risk is not the same as output risk
Even if a training use ultimately receives a fair-use defense, an output that reproduces a game’s art, code, music, or characters can create a separate infringement claim. Conversely, a model trained on lawful material can still produce an output that is too close to a protected work. Review the actual output and the development process instead of relying on the model’s label or marketing statement.
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How different does a game need to be?
There is no universal percentage, number of changed pixels, or “ten differences” test. Courts examine the protected expression allegedly taken, the similarities and differences, the amount and qualitative importance of what was used, and the context. Functional resemblance is generally less significant than copying distinctive expressive details.
Compare the right things
- Abstract function: Does the game use a common rule or system that many developers could implement?
- Expressive details: Are names, character shapes, costumes, dialogue, maps, textures, animations, music, or code structure recognizably taken?
- Overall presentation: Do interface layout, color choices, camera work, sound timing, and sequencing combine to evoke the same protected audiovisual expression?
- Independent creation: Can you show dated design files, source control history, concept sketches, and asset provenance demonstrating how the work was made?
Changing names or recoloring an asset does not automatically cure infringement. A work can remain substantially similar when its most distinctive expressive features survive the edits.
Fair use: possible defense, not an automatic permission slip
Section 107 lists criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research as examples of purposes that may qualify as fair use. Courts weigh all relevant facts, including the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the original, the amount and qualitative importance taken, and the effect on the potential market.
Lower-risk examples
A review video that shows limited footage to analyze level design, a classroom demonstration, or a research project that uses a small portion for a documented analytical purpose may have a stronger fair-use argument than a commercial game that reproduces the same assets. “Commercial” does not automatically defeat fair use, and “noncommercial” does not automatically win it.
Higher-risk examples
Launching a competing game that uses another game’s recognizable character art, music, code, or cinematics is a difficult fact pattern. The use can substitute for licensed assets, appropriate the most valuable expressive material, and affect the original market. The Copyright Office’s fair-use guidance also explains that only the copyright owner may authorize a derivative version; changing someone else’s work does not itself create permission.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Other rights can block a project even when copyright does not
Copyright is only one layer of the analysis.
- Trademark: Names, logos, and other source identifiers can create confusion about who made or endorsed the game.
- Trade dress: A distinctive combination of visual features, packaging, or interface presentation may raise source-identification issues.
- Patent: A particular technical process or game-related invention may be covered by a live patent even though copyright does not protect the underlying method.
- Contract and license terms: End-user agreements, development contracts, asset licenses, and platform rules can restrict copying, reverse engineering, scraping, or commercial release.
- Publicity and privacy rights: A recognizable person’s name, image, voice, or likeness can trigger rights that are separate from copyright.
These rights vary by jurisdiction and by the facts of the project. A game can avoid copying protected artwork yet still create confusion through branding or use a licensed asset outside the license’s scope.
A safer AI-assisted development workflow
- Define the mechanic at the functional level. Write down the rule or player goal without copying another game’s wording, art bible, code, or level documentation.
- Set a source policy. Permit only public-domain, properly licensed, or internally created reference material. Prohibit employees and contractors from uploading confidential or unlicensed game files to a model.
- Check model and asset terms. Confirm whether commercial use, training, redistribution, and ownership are allowed, and record the applicable version and date.
- Generate from original design direction. Use your own characters, world, palette, interface, terminology, and narrative rather than prompts that request a recreation of a named game or character.
- Review every output. Flag recognizable characters, logos, distinctive costumes, copied dialogue, matching maps, repeated music phrases, and code that resembles a source file.
- Make meaningful human edits. Redraw, rewrite, rearrange, and integrate assets into an original composition. Preserve evidence of the creative decisions rather than treating a raw generation as final.
- Run a clearance review before release. Search for trademark conflicts, inspect third-party licenses, confirm that contractors assigned rights, and document why the mechanics are functional while the expression is independently developed.
- Escalate unusual cases. Obtain advice from an intellectual-property lawyer for decompiled code, model training on game files, a project intentionally resembling a named game, or a planned commercial launch.
Common scenarios
“I want to make a game with the same core loop.”
That is generally possible when you implement the loop independently and use original assets, text, code, characters, and presentation. The closer the game comes to another title’s distinctive audiovisual identity, the more legal risk increases.
“The AI made an image that looks like a famous game.”
Do not publish it solely because the image came from a model. Remove logos and identifiable characters, compare distinctive expressive elements, document the prompt and edits, and replace the asset if it remains recognizably derived from the source.
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“I copied a small code fragment.”
Size alone is not decisive. A short but highly creative or central code segment can matter, while a purely functional, commonplace fragment may present a different analysis. Confirm the license and have counsel review uncertain code before distribution.
“I am making a commentary video.”
Limited clips used to criticize or explain a game can present a stronger fair-use argument than a substitute product, but the amount, purpose, editing, and market effect still matter. Use only what is reasonably necessary for the commentary.
When to get legal advice
Consult counsel in the relevant jurisdiction before release if you plan to use a named game’s characters or art style, train a model on game files, reuse decompiled code, distribute an output that reviewers have identified as substantially similar, or rely on fair use for a commercial product. Bring the asset provenance log, model terms, prompts, source-control history, licenses, and side-by-side comparisons so the lawyer can evaluate the actual facts.
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