THE CRUNCH
Shigeru Miyamoto has argued that generative AI will not displace human game designers, even if the technology eventually takes on every production task. Speaking at a press conference ahead of next month's ceremony, where he will become the first video game developer awarded Japan's Order of Culture, the Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time director compared AI to earlier shifts in creative tools. His generation moved from typewriters to word processors, he noted, and a designer's true capabilities only came to the fore as machines absorbed more of what counts as labour.
Miyamoto also flagged a subtler risk: creators can find satisfaction in the labour itself and mistake that for quality work. If AI takes over more production tasks, he suggested, developers might get "an opportunity to reflect on what's really important". Looking back at past designs, he said, work made merely by copying and pasting rarely stands the test of time because it lacks an individual's design intention.
His conclusion: because creation depends on a person's intent, with the computer assisting the labour, "even if AI were to eventually handle everything, there will always be a role left for us to play".
Not everyone in Nintendo's orbit is quite so relaxed. Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai recently warned that gen-AI could unleash a flood of unoriginal, unprofitable games, even if it cannot replicate human creativity. Nintendo itself has not ruled out using the tools, though former Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser said last year that the company's games would keep a "human touch".
The wider industry is moving faster. Square Enix's chief executive has said the company will be "aggressive in applying AI", while Sega, Capcom, Level-5, Epic Games and others have admitted to using gen-AI in some form, and Xbox has opened a division dedicated to experimenting with the technology.