In recent years, large sectors of the games industry have embraced generative AI, both on the development side and for new user-generated content tools. But legendary Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto says his company would “prefer to go in a different direction” when it comes to AI technology.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Miyamoto said this wasn't just a contradiction on Nintendo's part. “It may seem like we're going in the opposite direction for the sake of going in the opposite direction, but it's really about finding what makes Nintendo special,” Miyamoto said. “There is a lot of talk, for example, about AI. “When that happens, everyone starts going in the same direction, but that's where Nintendo would prefer to go in a different direction.”
Miyamoto's statement comes a few months after Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa took a more evasive position in a question-and-answer session with investors in July. “Generative AI, which is becoming a big topic recently, can be used creatively, but we recognize that it can also raise issues with intellectual property rights,” Furukawa said at the time.