Sony's CEO Says AI Can Enhance Creativity but Never Replace It — and the Industry Is Split
Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki has a clear position on artificial intelligence in entertainment: use it, or get left behind. "It is really up to us," he told the Wall Street Journal. "We take advantage of AI, or we face a threat from AI." But he draws a hard line at one thing — the creative act itself. "AI cannot replace it," Totoki said of human creativity. "AI can enhance human creativity." (GameSpot)
Totoki's comments come from a Wall Street Journal profile published on 14 August 2026, titled "How a Sony Veteran Is Overhauling the Company He Grew Up In," written by Jason Douglas. The piece charts his effort to transform Sony — a company that built its name on televisions, cameras, and Walkmans — into an entertainment-first business. Totoki, who previously ran Sony Mobile Communications during the Kazuo Hirai era, now oversees a portfolio spanning PlayStation, film studios, and music labels. He told the Journal that Sony's future is entertainment, even though its empire was built on electronics (WSJ).
His bet on human-made art has a personal dimension. Totoki is a fan of the band Oasis — and he believes that as AI-generated content floods the market, people will crave work they know came from a person (GameSpot). He made a similar case in May 2026, telling Variety that "human creativity must remain at the center" and calling AI a powerful tool, not a replacement for artists (Variety).
Sony is already putting the technology to work. Machine-learning algorithms were used in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 as part of tests to speed up development (GameSpot). Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the Tomb Raider franchise, confirmed that character designs in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis — including Lara Croft — are entirely human-crafted, while AI is reserved for early concept art and placeholder assets (GameSpot).
Across the wider industry, the picture is fractured. A survey by the organisation behind the Tokyo Game Show found that over 50% of Japanese game developers are already integrating AI into production. But 50% of developers surveyed by the Game Developers Conference — the industry's largest annual gathering — believe generative AI is actively hurting the business (GameSpot).
Two prominent creators land on the sceptical side. Nobuo Uematsu, the composer behind the Final Fantasy series' most beloved scores, said he has no interest in using generative AI to write music, finding it more rewarding to create something himself. Voice actor Troy Baker — known for roles in The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite — argued that AI cannot create art because it lacks human experiences to draw from (GameSpot).
What makes Totoki's stance notable is the gap between his company's rhetoric and its practice. Sony calls human creativity irreplaceable. It is also running machine-learning tests on its biggest releases. The message is that the two can coexist — AI handles the repetitive work, humans handle the soul. Whether the industry agrees is another matter entirely.
