Itch.io has introduced a new Itch.io generative AI filter, giving visitors a direct way to exclude projects that carry an AI disclosure from what they see on the game hosting platform. The option appears as a “No AI” choice in the browsing menu, and it has also been extended to search and other areas where the company said such a control had been missing.
The immediate effect is striking. When the filter was applied to games on the day of the announcement, the number of visible projects dropped from more than 1.77 million to fewer than 425,000. That gap reflects how many titles on the service are tagged as involving generative AI, and it shows how much of the catalog a visitor would otherwise encounter by default.
What the filter changes for visitors
The “No AI” setting is not a separate storefront or a hidden toggle buried in account preferences. It sits in the browsing menu, which means a visitor can choose to see only projects that do not carry an AI disclosure before scrolling through the catalog. The same control has been added to search results, so a query can be narrowed in the same way. Itch.io described the previous absence of the option in those places as a critical gap.
For players who want to avoid generative AI content, the change turns a manual, title-by-title check into a single selection. For creators who disclose their use of such tools, it means their projects may not appear to users who have switched the filter on. The platform is relying on the disclosure tags to make the system work.
Rules already on the books
Itch.io already had policies addressing generative AI before the filter arrived. The platform prohibits uploading excessive amounts of automatically generated or AI-generated content and treats that behavior as spam. It also asks creators to disclose generative AI use when appropriate.
What the rules do not spell out is whether there are penalties for failing to apply the tag when it is warranted. That leaves the disclosure system dependent, at least in part, on creators following the request. The rules have not prevented AI-generated content from appearing on the service, and some of it has also disappeared from the platform.
Game jams and a larger marketplace
Itch.io is also known as a popular venue for game jams, and those events can take very different positions on AI. Some prohibit generative AI outright, while for others it is the entire point. A platform-wide filter does not resolve those differences, but it gives individual visitors a way to set their own boundary while browsing.
The comparison with Steam is unavoidable. Steam, a much larger gaming marketplace, has rules governing disclosures for generative AI use, but its store does not currently offer a way to filter those games out. Itch.io’s move therefore stands out as a practical option that the bigger storefront lacks.
Even with self-reporting as the foundation, having the choice matters. A filter lets players decide whether they want to see disclosed AI projects or leave them out of view, rather than forcing that decision on them by default.
