Ever since generative AI became popular on the internet, there have been heated discussions about its use and the ethics of using AI to make content. It looks like Nintendo has a very clear stance regarding its usage.
With AI being speculated to have some use in the gaming space, with many developers showing support for its usage, it looks like Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser isn’t so keen on AI being a tool the company should rely on in the near future.
In a recent talk with CNBC (via GoNintendo), Bowser was asked about the use of AI in games, to which he replied:
If developers choose to use A.I., and it is a discussion right now at Nintendo, it’s not the only method of developing games. We still believe that what makes our games special is our developers, their artistic capabilities, their insight into how people play. There’s always, always going to be a human touch, and a human engagement in how we develop and build our games.
Admittedly, Bowser doesn’t give any significant condemnations to other companies that make use of AI. If anything, he just lifted the developers at Nintendo, who have been behind all their hit games. So far, the AI discussion has been about the relevancy of artists and how AI could make them obsolete, so with Nintendo’s statement, Bowser is making a stand for the developers and championing the role of actual humans when it comes to game development.
Not All Creators
While the general vibe online regarding artists is that generative AI is unethical, some creators have supported the tech, like the director of the co-op game Split Fiction, Josef Fares, who welcomes the use of AI in games. He says:
We need to adapt to it… If it’s part of the industry we should see how to implement it to see how we get better games. I can understand the fact that some people could lose their jobs, but that goes for every new technology.
Admittedly, generative AI would take longer to generate full games because of the sheer amount of development required to make a coherent game from pre-production to writing and then game testing. Though there have been attempts, they’ve been pretty bland compared to completed games.
So far, games haven’t taken the AI hit like movies or lineart, and after the whole Ghibli trend went viral, even more artists are calling for safeguards to be made on AI to protect the artists that the algorithms have been ‘borrowing’ from.
For now, Nintendo is gearing up for the release of the Switch 2 on June 5.