Guides › Can I ship it?
Can I use AI-generated code in a commercial game?
Short answer: Yes. GitHub says it doesn't claim ownership of Copilot output, Cursor assigns its rights in suggestions to you, and Anthropic assigns its rights in Claude outputs to you. Two caveats: you are responsible for checking whether output reproduces code that needs a third-party or open-source licence, and purely AI-written code may not be copyrightable. Steam doesn't ask you to disclose AI used only to work faster.
Checked 2026-10-16 against the official pages quoted below. Quotes are verbatim; anything we couldn't confirm is labelled. Not legal advice.
What the official terms say
"GitHub does not claim ownership of your Input or Output."
"You are responsible for determining whether your use of Output requires a third-party license and for complying with any such license."
"You retain all of your right, title, and interest that you have in Inputs, and Anysphere hereby assigns to you all of our right, title, and interest if any in and to any Suggestions."
"we assign to you all of our right, title, and interest—if any—in Outputs."
"Efficiency gains through the use of these tools is not the focus of this section. Instead, it is concerned with the use of AI in creating content that ships with your game, and is consumed by players."
Get an alert when these rules change
Store AI policies and tool licences change without notice. We re-check the official pages every week and send one short email when something that affects shipping changes. Free, unsubscribe any time.
Form not loading? Subscribe on beehiiv.
What it means for your game
- GitHub Copilot: no ownership claim; you handle any third-party licence the output triggers.
- Cursor: Anysphere assigns its rights in suggestions to you.
- Claude Code: Anthropic's consumer terms assign its rights in outputs to you.
- Steam: efficiency tools are not the focus of the AI disclosure.
- itch.io: no code-specific rule found; it asks you to tag generative-AI material.
- Copyright: in the US, code you write or meaningfully shape is protected; code generated with no human control may not be.
Tool licences at a glance
Commercial use in a shipped game, from each vendor's own terms and pricing pages (dataset checked 2026-10-16).
| Tool | Free plan | Paid plans | Licence (paid) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | commercial use allowed | commercial use allowed | Same (individual plans use ToS s.J; Business/Enterprise use the Generative AI Services Terms) Details |
| Cursor | commercial use allowed | commercial use allowed | Same Details |
| Claude Code | n/a | commercial use allowed | Consumer Terms s.4: subject to compliance, Anthropic assigns to you all of its right, title and interest (if any) in Outputs Details |
| Rosebud AI | no commercial use | commercial use allowed with conditions | Terms: paid users may use UGC commercially; pricing page lists 'Commercial rights' from 10x Dev ($30/mo); code download from Pro ($50/mo) Details |
| Unity AI | commercial use allowed | commercial use allowed | Same; generations carry 'UnityAI' metadata so you can find and remove them before shipping Details |
Store rules
| Store | AI disclosure | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Steam (Valve) | Required (pre-generated and live AI) | Disclose AI content that ships and is consumed by players (pre-generated), and describe guardrails for live-generated AI. Efficiency tools used during development are not the focus. |
| itch.io | Required for assets you sell/publish | Asset pages must complete the Generative AI disclosure (untagged AI assets lose browse indexing). Games are asked to tag accurately; classic game AI (pathfinding, procedural generation) needs no tag. |
Copyright where you sell
- United States: purely AI output not protected. Purely AI-generated material is not protected. Human-authored parts, creative selection/arrangement and creative modifications of AI output can be. The Supreme…
FAQ
Who owns code written by GitHub Copilot?
GitHub's Terms say GitHub does not claim ownership of your Input or Output, and that you're responsible for checking whether Output needs a third-party licence.
Who owns code written in Cursor?
Cursor's Terms (Sep 3, 2026, s.5.3) say Anysphere assigns to you all its right, title and interest, if any, in Suggestions.
Do I need to disclose AI-written code on Steam?
Valve says efficiency gains from AI tools used during development are not the focus of its AI disclosure, which covers content that ships and is consumed by players.
Sources
- https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-terms-of-service
- https://cursor.com/terms-of-service
- https://www.anthropic.com/legal/consumer-terms
- https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted/contentsurvey
Related: Does itch.io require AI disclosure? · Can I copyright a game made with AI? · Can I ship it? checker · AI rules by store · Commercial use by tool
Cite this page
Asset Forge Index, "Can I use AI-generated code in a commercial game?", https://assetforgeindex.com/guides/can-i-use-ai-generated-code-commercially, checked 2026-10-15. Data is free to reuse with a link. Machine-readable versions are listed in llms.txt.