\n<\/p>\n
Panic, the company behind the tiny and excellent Playdate console, is taking a stand on generative AI. The company has published an AI disclosure that says as of this month, the Playdate Catalog \u201cwill no longer accept titles that use \u2018Generative AI\u2019 for art, audio, music, text, or dialog.\u201d Panic does allow for developers to use AI assistance for coding, but also says that \u201cwe will flag any title as such and specify the extent that it was used (for example, \u201cLua debugging\u201d) so the customer can decide whether to support it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
This comes a day after Panic announced that Playdate season three was happening and would arrive later this year. For those who don\u2019t recall, the Playdate includes a \u201cseason\u201d worth of games when you buy it, 24 titles in total with two revealed every week. Season two came out last year with 12 games \u2014 but, as Game Developer<\/em> notes, one of those games used generative AI for writing and coding. On Bluesky, someone asked Panic if it would disclose what games in season three used AI, and the company confirmed that it was a requirement for season three that developers not use AI for art, music, writing or coding.<\/p>\n Specifically, Panic says you can\u2019t use large language models like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, AI image generators like Stable Diffusion or audio generators like MuseNet and Suno. Previously-approved games with generative AI will be allowed to stay on the catalog with a disclosure that indicates what exactly AI was used for. The company says these guidelines are \u201cunder constant discussion and is subject to change at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n I recall seeing AI disclosures on games in the Playdate Catalog in the past, but it makes sense to be up-front and clear on exactly what Panic allows and what it will reject. That said, it\u2019s fairly easy to sideload games onto a Playdate, so anyone who wants to use generative AI to make a game isn\u2019t entirely out of luck \u2014 though distribution and discovery for Playdate owners will obviously be harder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n