Nintendo's legendary Kirby designer Masahiro Sakurai weighs in on gen-AI, saying "it has yet to gain my trust" but not to reject it completely

Nintendo's legendary Kirby designer Masahiro Sakurai weighs in on gen-AI, saying "it has yet to gain my trust" but not to reject it completely

"Doing nothing is probably not the right approach."

Masahiro Sakurai, the designer behind many iconic Nintendo franchises such as Super Smash Bros. and several Kirby titles, has weighed in on the ongoing discussion of generative-AI use in game development.

At an event celebrating the release of his new book - Masahiro Sakurai’s Thoughts on Games - the veteran director told Famitsu he hasn't and currently isn't using the technology to make games, noting that the role of a designer is to generate ideas.

"It has yet to gain my trust," Sakurai said via DeepL machine translation. Regarding graphical use specifically, he added that, "It must not amount to exploitation of any kind," and that "for the time being, we can produce better results by coming up with ideas ourselves".

But Sakurai is wary of rejecting gen-AI completely, saying "making games today is far too difficult", with some games "running at a loss even after selling millions of copies". A company in that position may go under if it does not change its stance on generative-AI, he suggested. "Doing nothing is probably not the right approach," he said, but "where and how to use it" is a complex topic with a lot of uncertainties. Sakurai is taking "a slow-paced approach" for now.

Outside of regular industry layoffs, the use of generative-AI in games has been the most controversial topic amongst developers and players. Some argue it's already being used in multiple development disciplines, notably programming and writing code. Others, such as Shigeru Miyamoto, are more sceptical of the technology's capabilities, especially when it comes to the more creative and art-driven parts of game development.

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