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Start with three separate questions
Teams get into trouble when they treat “AI-generated” as a single legal category. For each asset, create three decisions rather than one overall label.
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| Review track | Question to answer | What a positive answer means | What it does not prove |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authorship and copyrightability | What human-authored expression is perceptible in the asset or the larger game? | You may have protectable human expression under applicable law. | It does not prove that every element is protected or that you have permission to use third-party material. |
| Permission and infringement risk | What rights and restrictions apply to the model, source material, output, and anything incorporated into it? | Your documented permissions may support the intended commercial use. | It does not establish that the asset contains sufficient human authorship for copyright protection. |
| Platform compliance | What must the intended storefront disclose, and what promises must the submitted game meet? | Your submission can be aligned with the platform’s survey and content rules. | Disclosure is not a license, indemnity, or waiver of content requirements. |
Keep the answers linked to the exact asset and build. An image can contain human-created layout and paint-over work, still include an unlicensed logo, and still need an AI disclosure on the storefront. Those are three different findings.
Know the scope of the U.S. guidance
The U.S. Copyright Office’s Part 2 report on copyrightability of generative-AI outputs was published January 29, 2025. It says an output can be protected when a human author determines sufficient expressive elements. The report identifies, among other situations, human-authored work that remains perceptible in the output and creative human arrangements or modifications. It also says that merely providing prompts is not enough.
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The Office’s accompanying NewsNet issue 1060 states: “The Office confirms that the use of AI to assist in the process of creation or the inclusion of AI-generated material in a larger human-generated work does not bar copyrightability.” That is guidance about U.S. copyrightability, not a universal rule for every country and not a ruling about your particular file.
Use this material to describe the human contribution accurately. Do not turn it into a promise that any edit creates copyright, that prompt iteration alone qualifies, or that an output without copyright protection is automatically safe from third-party claims.
Step 1: Identify the exact asset and shipped version
Begin before legal analysis with an inventory record. A stable identity prevents a reviewed draft from being mistaken for the file that reaches players.
- Assign a stable asset ID and record the filename, file format, and version or commit.
- Describe the type: character art, environment texture, icon, animation, sound effect, music, voice, dialogue, localization, or another category.
- Record where it appears in the game and whether players can access it directly, indirectly, or only through a development tool.
- Attach the exact shipped build, branch, or release candidate containing the file.
- Note whether the asset appears in store screenshots, trailers, key art, social posts, or other marketing materials.
If the team later replaces the file, create a new version or close the old review and open a new one. Do not silently overwrite the evidence for the decision.
Step 2: Record origin, tools, and the people involved
Write down how the asset came into existence, not just which application exported it. Record the person or vendor who created, selected, edited, or approved it; the tool and model or service; the dates and versions used; and the stage at which AI contributed.
| Record field | Example entry | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Creator and approver | Concept artist; art director approval dated 2026-09-18 | Shows who made expressive choices and who accepted the final file. |
| Tool and model/service | Named application, model family, account or vendor | Terms can differ by service, plan, model, and date. |
| Version and date | Tool version, model revision, generation date | Preserves the terms and technical context that applied at creation. |
| Inputs | Prompts, sketches, reference photographs, licensed fonts, source audio | Inputs can carry independent copyright, trademark, privacy, or contract issues. |
| Human work | Selection, composition, paint-over, retopology, rigging, editing, mixing | Lets you describe human-authored expression rather than treating the whole asset as one undifferentiated output. |
| Evidence | Source files, layer history, prompt and iteration records, approvals | Supports an audit trail; a prompt log alone is not proof of ownership. |
Preserve project files and relevant prompt or iteration records where appropriate. Their value is evidentiary: they show process and decisions. They do not convert an otherwise unprotected output into a protected work by themselves.
Step 3: Check the permissions that actually govern use
Collect the terms in force on the date of creation for every relevant service, marketplace, contributor, and source asset. The governing document may be a tool’s terms of service, a model-specific license, a marketplace license, a contractor agreement, or a separate permission from a rights holder.
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- Commercial use: Does the license permit inclusion in a paid game, downloadable content, advertising, and related merchandise?
- Modification: May you edit, combine, retopologize, translate, remix, or make derivative versions?
- Redistribution: Does shipping the asset inside an installable game count as redistribution, and are there restrictions on exposing source files or model weights?
- Attribution and notices: Must the game, credits, documentation, or store page include a notice?
- Sublicensing: Can you grant players the rights needed to install and play the game?
- Input restrictions: Were the images, recordings, voices, text, or other references submitted to the service allowed for that purpose?
- Output limitations and reservations: Does the provider reserve rights, disclaim exclusivity, or impose special rules on similar outputs?
- Contractor and vendor rights: Does your agreement with the person or studio that delivered the asset cover the game, marketing, ports, and future updates?
Save a dated copy or reliable record of each applicable term. If provenance is unknown, mark the asset as unresolved instead of assuming that a commercial plan, a “royalty-free” label, or the absence of an automated warning grants all necessary rights. The cited U.S. and Steam materials do not decide the terms of any particular provider; inspect the actual governing terms.
Step 4: Describe the human authorship precisely
Ask what a person created, selected, arranged, or modified in the final expressive result. Useful evidence can include an original sketch that remains visible, a deliberate composition of generated elements, hand-painted details, custom silhouettes, edited animation timing, authored dialogue, or a human-built scene that incorporates generated components.
Prompting alone
The Copyright Office’s current guidance says the mere provision of prompts is not enough. Prompt experimentation can be part of a broader creative process, but do not describe a prompt log as conclusive proof of copyright ownership.
Human selection and arrangement
Selection among alternatives and arrangement can matter when the person’s choices determine expressive elements in the final work. Record the alternatives considered, the reasons for selection, and any subsequent composition or editing.
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Human modification
Document edits that alter expression rather than merely changing file properties: painting new forms, designing a distinctive silhouette, rewriting text, changing animation poses, rebuilding geometry, or mixing and arranging audio. Separate those human-authored portions from generated material when making ownership or registration claims.
Larger human-generated works
Including generated material in a larger human-generated game does not automatically bar copyrightability. The analysis still concerns the expressive contributions in the particular game and asset; it is not a blanket classification for everything in the project.
Step 5: Screen for third-party material and recognizable claims
Review the finished asset for material that could belong to someone else, regardless of whether the model produced it. Look for recognizable characters, logos, artwork, music, voices, slogans, uniforms, architectural designs, and other distinctive elements. Check the intended use, territory, duration, media, and marketing context against any permission you have.
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- For an image, inspect foreground and background details, signage, logos, character likenesses, and distinctive costumes.
- For audio, check melodies, lyrics, samples, sound recordings, vocal likenesses, and spoken text.
- For text and localization, check copied passages, names, quotations, and translation rights.
- For 3D assets, inspect topology, textures, decals, branded objects, and scans or photographs used as references.
- For generated voices or performances, check consent, publicity, performer, and contract issues in the jurisdictions that matter to release.
Similarity searches and automated detection can prioritize manual review, but they are not legal determinations. A “no match” result does not prove that an asset is clear, and a visual resemblance does not by itself resolve whether a claim would succeed.
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Step 6: Make a U.S. copyrightability decision without overclaiming
Use a field such as “human-authored expression identified,” “generated material separated,” and “jurisdictional conclusion” rather than a binary “copyrighted/not copyrighted” label. The relevant question is whether sufficient human-authored expression is present under the applicable law, not whether an AI tool was involved at any point.
| Observed process | Careful record language |
|---|---|
| Prompt produced an image with no meaningful human changes | “Generated output; no sufficient human-authored expression identified on current record.” |
| Artist selected one output and integrated it into a hand-built composition | “Human selection and arrangement identified; assess the protectable scope of those choices.” |
| Artist substantially repainted, redesigned, and composited the output | “Human modifications and arrangement identified; separate those elements from generated material.” |
| Generated texture used inside a human-modeled and hand-authored environment | “Assess the environment’s human-authored expression and the texture’s independent rights separately.” |
This is a U.S.-focused assessment. It does not establish the result in another country, decide whether a court would find infringement, or guarantee registration. For a high-value asset, document the facts and obtain jurisdiction-specific advice.
Step 7: Map the asset to Steam’s AI disclosure requirements
Steam’s Content Survey covers AI services used during development or in the product. Classify the implementation accurately and describe it in the survey.
| Steam category | What it covers | Additional work |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-generated content | AI-created material made during development that ships with the game and is consumed by players, including artwork, sound, narrative, and localization. | Describe the implementation and ensure the shipped content meets the same content standards and rights promises as non-AI material. |
| Live-generated content | Material created with AI tools while the game is running. | Describe the implementation and provide information about guardrails intended to prevent illegal output. |
Valve states: “In our prerelease review, we will evaluate the output of AI generated content in your game the same way we evaluate all non-AI content – including a check that your game meets those promises.” Steam’s review therefore includes whether the game avoids illegal or infringing content and matches its marketing materials.
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Completing the survey does not waive Steam’s content rules, grant rights in an asset, or cure a broken promise to users. Keep the licensing and provenance record even after the survey is submitted.
Changes after approval
Steam documentation says some survey answers cannot be edited after the build and store page are approved without first contacting Steam Support. Revisit the survey whenever shipped content or the AI implementation changes, and follow Steam’s current instructions for updating an answer.
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Schedule the review
Steam’s Review Process documentation gives a typical 3–5 business day review period and recommends submitting at least 7 business days before release to allow time for changes. These are platform estimates and can change, so check the live documentation when scheduling.
Step 8: Approve, replace, or escalate
Turn the findings into a recorded decision for each asset.
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- Approve with conditions: Ship only after adding a required notice, removing a restricted element, completing a vendor permission, or updating the survey.
- Replace: Create or commission a new asset when provenance is unknown, a restriction cannot be satisfied, or the risk is disproportionate to the asset’s importance.
- Escalate: Send uncertain, high-impact matters to qualified counsel or the relevant rights holder. Include the asset, source files, terms, intended uses, jurisdictions, and the specific question.
Assign a reviewer and date, preserve the rationale, and verify that the final build and marketing materials still match the decision. Record replacements so an old, rejected file cannot re-enter a later build unnoticed.
Compare assets on decision-relevant axes
When choosing between two candidate assets, compare facts rather than an overall “AI risk” score.
| Axis | Lower-risk evidence | Higher-risk signal |
|---|---|---|
| Human contribution and documentation | Named creator, source files, clear arrangement or modification history | Prompt-only process, missing project files, unclear approval history |
| Provenance and rights certainty | Dated terms, contributor permissions, known inputs, commercial use confirmed | Unknown source material, expired or conflicting terms, unclear sublicensing |
| Similarity and third-party material | Manual review completed; distinctive references removed or licensed | Recognizable characters, logos, music, voices, or artwork without permission |
| Platform and operational burden | Accurate survey classification, documented live-generation guardrails, stable implementation | Unreported AI use, changing runtime output, marketing that overstates what the game contains |
These axes help prioritize review; they do not replace legal analysis or a platform’s own decision.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Use an asset-level review record
A compact record can be attached to a ticket or stored with the project’s build evidence. Adapt the fields to your production system:
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Asset ID and version:
Game build and locations:
Asset type and player visibility:
Creator, editor, approver, and dates:
AI tool, model/service, plan, version, and generation date:
Inputs and source permissions:
Applicable terms captured on:
Human-authored expression identified:
Generated material separated:
Third-party material screening and findings:
Intended countries, platforms, and uses:
Steam category: pre-generated / live-generated / not applicable
Guardrails documented (if live-generated):
Decision: approve / conditions / replace / escalate
Reviewer, date, rationale, and follow-up:
Keep the record with the final file hash or version identifier where practical. If the tool, model, terms, asset, platform, or intended territory changes, reopen the review instead of carrying the old conclusion forward automatically.
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Common failure modes and their fixes
“The model’s commercial plan makes every output safe.”
Why it fails: A provider’s output license does not necessarily clear your inputs, third-party material, or every downstream use. Fix: Read the terms that applied on the creation date and review the asset for independent rights claims.
“We edited it, so we own the whole image.”
Why it fails: The amount and kind of human expression matter, and generated portions may need to be separated. Fix: Describe the specific human choices and modifications and avoid claiming more than the record supports.
“The prompt history proves authorship.”
Why it fails: The Copyright Office says prompting alone is not enough. Fix: Preserve prompt history as process evidence while documenting selection, arrangement, and substantive edits separately.
“Steam disclosure grants permission.”
Why it fails: Steam’s survey is a platform disclosure and review mechanism, not a rights license. Fix: Complete the survey accurately and maintain independent permissions and provenance evidence.
“A similarity scanner found nothing, so release is clear.”
Why it fails: Automated matching is incomplete and cannot resolve legal questions. Fix: Use it to focus manual review, then investigate recognizable elements and intended uses.
“The approved build is the end of the process.”
Why it fails: New assets, live-generation behavior, store copy, or a changed model can alter the analysis. Fix: Reopen the record and update platform disclosures whenever shipped content or implementation changes.
Release checklist
- Every AI-assisted asset in the release candidate has a stable ID and version.
- Tool, model or service, relevant version, dates, creator, and approver are recorded.
- Applicable terms and contributor permissions are preserved for the intended uses.
- Inputs and sources have been reviewed for copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, and contract concerns where relevant.
- Human-authored expression and generated material are described separately.
- Recognizable third-party material has been removed, licensed, or escalated.
- Steam’s pre-generated or live-generated classification matches the actual implementation.
- Live-generation guardrails are documented when applicable.
- Store page, trailers, screenshots, and other marketing do not make promises the build cannot meet.
- Replacement and escalation decisions are recorded, and the final build was checked against the approved asset list.
- Jurisdiction- and platform-specific questions outside U.S. copyright and Steam have been reviewed separately.
What the Copyright Office’s 10,000-comment figure does—and does not—show
The Office’s AI study page says it received more than 10,000 comments by the December 2023 deadline. That number demonstrates the scale of participation in the study. It is not a rate of infringement, a measure of AI-asset usage, or evidence of public agreement. Do not use it to estimate your project’s risk.
When to obtain specialized advice
Escalate before release when an asset is central to the game’s identity or revenue, provenance is unknown, a recognizable person or brand appears, a voice or performance may be imitated, a contributor’s rights are unclear, a provider’s terms conflict with your intended distribution, or the game will launch in jurisdictions not covered by your current analysis. Give counsel the factual record rather than a label such as “AI-generated”; the legal question depends on the asset, process, rights, and intended use.
Bottom line
Review AI-generated game assets as documented, versioned components—not as a single category. Establish what people contributed, verify permission for the tool, inputs, output, and third-party elements, then disclose the actual implementation to each storefront. Under current U.S. guidance, prompting alone is not enough to establish human authorship, and under Steam’s rules, disclosure does not excuse illegal or infringing content. A disciplined asset record lets you approve clear files, replace uncertain ones, and escalate the few questions that genuinely require legal judgment.
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