Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has clarified the company’s position on the use of generative AI, pointing out that the technology has IP rights issues and vowing to “deliver value that is unique to us”.
In a Q&A held recently with Nintendo investors (via the folks at TweakTown), Furukawa was asked about his and Nintendo’s stance on generative AI in gaming.
In response to the question, Furukawa said that while he recognizes the potential of generative AI to be “more creative” than regular gaming AI, he and Nintendo also acknowledge that it has “issues with intellectual property rights”.
Furukawa goes on to say that Nintendo has “decades of know-how” in creating games for its customers, and that it wants to “deliver value that is unique to [Nintendo]” which “cannot be achieved through technology alone”.
It’s important to note that Furukawa doesn’t outright reject the possibility of Nintendo ever using generative AI; he says the company “remain[s] flexible in responding to technological developments”.
However, it sounds like Nintendo is being rightly cautious about using generative AI in its games given the potential of AI to infringe copyright. He doesn’t mention AI’s potentially disastrous impact on the climate, nor its tendency to damagingly “hallucinate”, but these are serious issues facing AI proponents as well.
Nintendo is just the latest company to address the use of generative AI in games, and it’s worth noting that the Japanese giant is one of the more skeptical companies; others have been quicker to embrace what they see as AI’s potential to improve their games.
Publishers that have embraced the use of generative AI in games include EA, which says development could become up to 30% more efficient through AI usage, and Ubisoft, which is looking into the potential of generative AI for everything from NPC dialogue to internal processes.
The tech has also been embraced by Xbox, as well as graphics card giant Nvidia, although I’d argue that none of these companies have done a great job of demonstrating what’s in it for us as players when it comes to AI.
Of course, there’s always a chance that Nintendo will change its stance regarding AI in the future, although the gaming giant has never been particularly timely when it comes to trends. Stay tuned for more on all things AI in gaming.
