A new discovery in Steam’s files seems to indicate that Valve could be working on its own AI agent with the intention to use it for support queries, and potentially Counter-Strike 2 anti-cheat.

That’s according to X user Gabe Follower, who highlights the discovery in a series of screenshots. When analysing one of the Steam client’s files, a string of code seems to reference a ‘SteamGPT’, an apparent riff on popular AI chatbox ChatGPT.

Gabe Follower points out that the string of data is apparently related to user Trust Score, which is partially used to indicate whether an account is trustworthy or not when matchmaking in Counter-Strike 2.

Taking a look at the data string, it looks like the model is pulling data such as the account age of users, their current trust score, and an option to ignore whether or not they’ve been banned in the past.

Valve hasn’t announced this new process publicly, and there’s every chance that this discovery doesn’t have anything to do with AI at all. However, the process being dubbed ‘SteamGPT’ seems to be a clear reference to the generative AI model of a similar name, which can’t be a coincidence.

If true, the inclusion of AI tech in Valve’s client would go against the grain of its recent stance on the tech. While it permits games that use AI on its platform, it requires publishers to disclose how it’s been used in the development process.

It also made a point of not mentioning anything to do with AI when announcing its brand new Steam Machine hardware SKUs last year – although those are still yet to see the light of day, ironically due to the AI bubble causing havoc with the hardware supply line.

While we can’t see much evidence for a potential ‘SteamGPT’ being used to assist in support-related matters, Gabe Follower reckons that could also be part of this rumoured tech’s function. Currently, Steam has a pretty robust support team run by humans – but there’s every chance Valve could be looking to semi-automate some of these queries with SteamGPT.

For now though, SteamGPT remains an unannounced mystery.

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