Itch.io adding Generative AI disclosure filtering to few more places on the site

Itch.io’s expanded generative-AI disclosures and filters prompted debate over how to keep a low-barrier game platform usable amid a flood of low-quality submissions. Ticulatedspline compared the problem with mobile-game stores, where clones and scams predate AI, and with the uneven quality of old Flash games. They argued that AI has worsened the imbalance by making it far easier to produce large volumes of “slop.” They opposed a blanket AI ban, noting that people can make sincere or even good games with AI, but worried that filters and moderation could punish those creators along with the worst offenders.

The sharpest disagreement concerned whether developers should disclose AI use. Vegnus called disclosure a self-inflicted disadvantage, arguing that it offers developers no upside if their work does not look AI-generated. BigTTYGothGF suggested disclosure may be preferable to being banned, while pull_my_finger stressed that buyers may choose not to purchase a game if they know it used AI, making transparency meaningful to them. Ticulatedspline likewise worried that self-tagging could bury legitimate AI-assisted games alongside junk. Darepublic remarked that the discussion’s anti-AI tone seemed like a reversal of the usual pro-AI sentiment they associate with Hacker News.