[ED_Radish]

I'm having a hard time imagining what role AI (in around its current state) would actually play in creating Portal.

The only professional art assets I'd imagine you could substitute with AI work might be textures, which already tend to be found in libraries rather than handmade. Actual spritework is still quite far off and 3D Models even more so. Not to mention an AI definitely can't do much for art direction or getting your assets to actually look good put together.

Music and Writing seem too far off right now to even consider, let alone design work. So what essential element is Generative AI bringing at the moment? Skipping out on Voice Actors? (I don't believe it's on par with professional work on that front either but it's closest and people aren't as discerning.)

The most I can see besides that is it could speed some parts of art concepting and save you a buck on texture licensing.

Revolutionizing the programming part with copilot or such seems more believable, although since Steam isn't barring use of AI code (How would they even know?) I don't think that's what you mean.