Developers Required to Reveal GenAI Usage in Games on Itch.io

Developers working on Itch.io now have a new requirement: they must reveal if generative AI technology is part of their game development process.

Leaf Corcoran, the founder of the platform, shared this update in a recent post. Developers are now expected to specify not only if their game uses generative AI but also to detail the specific areas where the technology is applied—be it graphics, sound, text, dialogue, or even coding.

When a game incorporates generative AI, it receives a corresponding tag. Additional tags are available that detail the AI’s role, whether it’s enhancing graphics, creating soundscapes, writing text and dialogue, or crafting the underlying code structure.

According to Itch.io’s revised quality guidelines, “Generative AI refers to systems that craft original content—like text, images, or music—by analyzing vast datasets.” This includes language models such as ChatGPT and image creators like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, which generate new content from their training data.

The platform encourages developers to use the AI Disclosure section in their project’s edit page to accurately label any materials born from generative AI. It’s worth noting that projects utilizing isolated algorithms without relying on external large datasets don’t fall under the generative AI category. Traditional game AI functions such as NPC movement, enemy behaviors, procedural level creation, and dynamic difficulty settings are standard AI practices, which don’t need the generative AI tag.