AI-generated art in adult games: what Steam, itch.io, pixiv, Fantia and others allow

AI-generated art is allowed on some adult game platforms, limited on others and banned on the rest, and the rules are changing quickly. Steam requires disclosure and does not currently accept live-generated adult content. itch.io asks for disclosure, strictly for asset packs. FANZA caps how many AI works a creator can upload. Cara, pixivFANBOX and Fantia do not accept AI-generated content in the work itself.

This page compares the rules platform by platform, as they stood on 20 October 2026. It is written for developers deciding whether to use AI-generated art in an adult game, and for players wondering why store pages now carry AI labels. It does not take a view on whether AI art is good or bad. It records what each platform has published, with the dates.

Key points

• Steam requires disclosure. Pre-generated and live-generated AI content are treated separately.
• Steam does not currently allow live-generated adult content. Valve cites legal and customer risks.
• itch.io requires disclosure on asset pages. Game pages can tag AI use.
• FANZA Doujin caps AI works. Three a month per owner, reported in November 2025.
• pixiv allows labelled AI work. Its membership service FANBOX bans it.
• Fantia eased its ban in January 2026. Titles and thumbnails only.
• Real people are the line almost everywhere. AI sexual imagery of real people is banned.

Steam

Valve’s rules are in the Generative Artificial Intelligence section of the content survey documentation. They split AI content into two kinds.

Pre-generated. “Any kind of content that ships with your game and is consumed by players that is created with the help of AI tools during development.” Valve reviews it the same way it reviews all content, including checking that it is legal and consistent with how the game is marketed. Developers must describe the implementation in the survey.

Live-generated. “Any kind of content created with the help of AI tools while the game is running.” It follows the same rules, plus one: the developer has to explain what guardrails stop the AI from generating illegal content.

The adult rule is in the FAQ. Valve says: “we don’t want to ship Live-Generated AI Adult Only Sexual Content at this time.” It gives legal and customer risks as the reason. The page carries no date, and “at this time” signals that the position could change.

Two other points from the documentation:

• The section is about shipped content. It says efficiency gains from AI tools “is not the focus of this section”. It does not mention code assistants by name, but the scope suggests development tools that produce nothing shipped fall outside it.
• Paid AI services must be paid through Steam. A game connected to a paid live-generation service has to collect payment through a Steam-supported method.

The survey answers also drive Steam’s adult content handling; see does Steam allow NSFW games.

itch.io

GamingOnLinux reported on 21 November 2024 that itch.io had added a generative AI disclosure feature. The rule differs between assets and games.

• Asset packs: disclosure is mandatory. The guidelines say itch.io is “strictly enforcing disclosure for all game asset pages”, and failing to tag may result in delisting.
• Games: according to the same report, game pages are not required to disclose, but all pages get the option to tag their work as using or not using AI.

The article counted about 1,214 correctly tagged assets as using AI and 13,536 as not using it. It also noted that Valve had introduced a similar rule for Steam in January 2024.

We could not check itch.io’s current guidelines directly, and one 2026 article we found describes game-page disclosure as optional while some 2024 coverage describes it more broadly. Developers should read the current rules before publishing. For other itch.io rules affecting adult developers, see itch.io and UK age verification.

FANZA Doujin and DLsite

The Japanese doujin stores were early and are now the most restrictive.

DLsite. In May 2023, Anime News Network reported that DLsite and its creator platform Ci-en had banned AI-generated manga, CG illustrations, video and related content, while allowing partial AI assistance for novels and games. Both described the bans as temporary, without a duration. We could not find DLsite’s current policy, so this is the 2023 position.

FANZA Doujin. According to Automaton West, FANZA made tagging of AI-generated content mandatory in 2022. In June 2025 it announced that AI-generated works would be removed from its top page and that uploaders would have to classify them as AI-generated, partially AI-generated or AI-assisted, with a filter for customers who want to exclude AI work.

From mid-November 2025, the report says, each doujin circle owner is limited to three AI-generated or partially AI-generated works a month, regardless of genre. Opening multiple circles to get round the cap is forbidden, and the limit applies to works already registered, so creators may have to remove past works. The stated reason was the burden on the quality check that every work must pass.

pixiv, FANBOX and Fantia

pixiv

On pixiv itself, AI work is allowed with a label. The guidelines say: “All AI-generated work posted to the Service must be labeled as such.” They define AI-generated work as work where all or most of the production process is done by AI, and say unlabelled work may be labelled automatically. R-18 rating and censorship rules apply as to any work; see does pixiv allow 18+ content.

pixivFANBOX

The membership service is stricter. Its Individual Terms, on pixiv’s policies page, say that posting content the company defines as AI-generated is prohibited, with applicability set out in its guidelines and a help article. FANBOX was one of the four Japanese services that banned AI content in May 2023.

Fantia

Fantia banned AI-generated content in May 2023. On 19 January 2026 Automaton West reported that, from 22 January, the ban would be partially lifted “in light of recent technological advancements and changes in creative environments”.

The exceptions are post titles, featured images, post bodies, product names, thumbnails and product descriptions. Using AI for limited content, paid or free, and for commercial products remains prohibited. Even within the allowed scope, AI output that infringes copyright, personality rights or other intellectual property, or that may violate public order and morals, such as deepfakes, is forbidden.

For the membership platforms side by side, see Patreon alternatives for NSFW creators.

Cara and ArtStation

Cara. Cara’s terms say: “AI-generated media are not allowed in portfolios on Cara”. It permits AI media outside portfolios for news and discussion if labelled, and its FAQ says it uses a third-party service for AI image detection and adds NoAI tags to uploads by default. NSFW work is not accepted at all; see does Cara allow NSFW.

ArtStation. According to 80 Level, ArtStation’s policies continue to permit work made with AI tools if users own or have permission to publish it. Marketplace products containing generative AI must carry a CreatedWithAI tag, and its NoAI opt-out is on by default. See does ArtStation allow NSFW art.

Patreon, Unity and Epic

Three other rules are worth knowing.

Patreon does not ban AI-generated work as a category, but bans synthetic imagery of real people in sexual situations, as covered in does Patreon allow NSFW content. Its AI policies for Adult/18+ creators have their own help page, which we could not open for this article.

Unity’s ad and monetisation content policy, updated on 30 June 2026, expressly prohibits synthetic, manipulated or AI-generated sexual content in its covered services; see adult games in Unity and Unreal.

The Epic Games Store does not distribute adult-only rated products, whether the art is AI-generated or not; see IARC rating explained.

The comparison

What this means for developers

1. Read the rule before you commission or generate. The same asset can be fine on Steam and banned on FANBOX.
2. Disclose by default. Steam and itch.io both make disclosure the safe course, and undisclosed AI use risks removal.
3. Keep a record of what is AI-made. Disclosure forms ask for implementation detail, and Japanese stores sort work into categories.
4. Do not use AI to depict real people sexually. It is banned on every platform covered here, and often unlawful.
5. Plan for change. DLsite, FANZA and Fantia have all changed their rules within three years.
6. Check your engine and ad services. Unity’s ad policy bars AI-generated sexual content outright.

What is still unknown

• DLsite’s current AI rules. We found only the 2023 position.
• How strictly itch.io enforces game-page tagging. Coverage conflicts.
• Whether Valve will ever allow live-generated adult content. Its wording is “at this time”.
• How platforms detect AI work. Few publish their methods.

How this page was put together

Steam’s rules are quoted from the Steamworks content survey documentation, read on 20 October 2026. The other platforms’ rules come from their own terms where we could read them, and otherwise from the dated news reports linked in the text. Where we could not read a platform’s own page, the text says so.

Nothing here is legal advice, and it is not a statement about any game’s own use of AI. To report an error, see the corrections standard.