A sunny-side up fried egg.

Godot Wild Jam’s Policy on Generative AI

           Too long; won’t read: generative AI is still banned in Godot Wild Jam.

Happy 2026 from everyone on the Godot Wild Jam team! Over the past few months, we’ve noticed a marked uptick in jam submissions featuring fairly obvious usage of AI-generated assets. This is against our rules. After some internal discussion, the moderation team decided two things:

  1. The rules used to read “No AI-generated work”. We realized that wasn’t clear enough, so we changed it to “Do NOT use AI-generated content” with some extra surrounding context. We all hope that the updates to the rules and this post can answer your questions about the rule and the consequences for breaking it.
  2. We think it’s worth explaining why we care so much about this rule and why we think it’ll benefit the community, beyond the super immediate concerns with generative AI.

What does "Do NOT use AI-generated Content" Mean?

Simply put, when we say no AI-generated work we mean that literally no piece of content or asset in your game may be generated by an LLM or any other form of “Generative AI”. This includes, but is not limited to:
  1. Textures & sprites
  2. Audio
  3. 3D meshes & rigs
  4. Writing
  5. Marketing content (including thumbnails!)
  6. Code
  7. Literally anything that goes into your game
Notably, this includes assets made by others, regardless of whether or not they are free or paid. We acknowledge that some of these, particularly the code, can be impractical, perhaps even onerous, to enforce. It’s up to you, the Godot Wild Jam participant, to uphold the spirit of the Wildling and keep AI-created materials out of the jam.

What are the consequences of using "AI-Generated" work in a Jam Entry?

Any jam entry found to be using AI-generated content will be promptly disqualified. The entry will only be re-qualified if the creator can prove the authenticity of their work.

We understand that this may seem harsh, but our rationale is clear: the Godot Wild Jam is about learning and growth; using Generative AI to create assets goes against that missive.

Godot Wild Jam is a Learning Experience

As of the writing of this post, the About page for the Godot Wild Jam includes the following snippet 

The goal of Godot Wild Jam is to foster a place of learning while striving to be more inclusive and diverse in the gaming industry.

This year we are further committing to that sentiment in every sense. That includes continuing to foster a positive environment in our Discord for learning and growth, but that extends to our wariness of LLMs. There are numerous large issues with this technology looming over the world right now. Chief among them for us would be its potential effects on learning

Generative AI can impede learning

As of today, the long-term effects of generative AI on the learning process are still not well understood, but early research has shown some concerning outcomes. For example, a 2024 research paper that has a generally optimistic attitude towards the technology, suggests that the students who use an LLM perform worse once they no longer have access to it. Essentially, they trade short term success for a long-term decrease in skill gains.

Continuing this trend is a recent study that suggests that AI usage can lead to “cognitive debt”: at first you’ll see a reduction in friction leading to an eventual inclination to cease critically evaluating the work or ideas generated by the LLM. Humans, for better or worse, tend to love low-friction interactions. However, learning often happens in moments of high-effort or high-friction. The Godot Wild Jam offers up an environment where you can focus on high-effort learning while being safe and inclusive for everyone.

If you take one thing away from this post, let it be this: taking time to learn new skills and solve problems without generative AI can help you grow as a game developer. Do not be afraid of a little struggle in the process. Even if you want to use the technology, the time spent not using it will improve your skillset and cognitive abilities. Using an LLM to complete your jam entry may lead to a quick short-term success, but won’t help you become a better artist, programmer, musician, or even marketer.

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Cover photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash

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