Nintendo is not interested in artificial intelligence, Miyamoto says

Legendary Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto reaffirms Nintendo's stance on artificial intelligence.

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While companies like Electronic Arts are going all-in on generative AI, planning to use the nascent tech across its full fleet of games, portfolios, and studios, traditional game giants like Nintendo are keeping their roots steadfast and plan to keep actual artists in their employ. The conservative Japanese Mario-maker isn't interested in using gen AI to help create its games, not leaning into disruption for the sake of profits; after all, a big reason why Tears of the Kingdom was even created was because a sizable portion of Breath of the Wild's core dev team stayed together to tackle the sequel.

"It might seem like we are just going the opposite direction for the sake of going in the opposite direction, but it really is trying to find what makes Nintendo special. There is a lot of talk about AI for example. When that happens, everyone starts to go in the same direction, but that is where Nintendo would rather go in a different direction," Miyamoto said in a recent interview with The New York Times.

Miyamoto's comments reinforce Nintendo's general outlook at AI. This is also reflected in Nintendo's research and development (R&D) spending accounts, which includes experimentation and lots of investments in nascent technologies including VR, AR, and even deep learning. But AI is not included in Nintendo's R&D spending.

In a recent Q&A with investors, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa commented about AI, saying that it won't be utilized by the company for many reasons--one of them is potential copyright issues.

"In the game industry, AI-like technology has long been used to control enemy character movements, so game development and AI technology have always been closely related.

"Generative AI, which has been a hot topic in recent years, can be more creative, but we also recognize that it has issues with intellectual property rights.

"We have decades of know-how in creating optimal gaming experiences for our customers, and while we remain flexible in responding to technological developments, we hope to continue to deliver value that is unique to us and cannot be achieved through technology alone."