Miyamoto Says Generative AI Won't Make Human Creativity Obsolete
Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo designer behind Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda, says the rise of generative AI will not make human creativity obsolete. Video Games Chronicle reported his comments on 23 October 2026.
Miyamoto spoke at a press conference marking his acceptance of Japan's Order of Culture, one of the country's highest cultural honours. He discussed the use of AI in game creation. Generative AI is software that produces text, images and other content from simple instructions.
His central point is about who stays in charge. As generative AI takes over more of the work involved in building things, he argued, creators' individual visions will become even more important.
He went further. Even if AI eventually handled everything, he said, there would always be a role for people. Creation depends on individual intent, he said, and the computer works as an assistant for the labour.
Nintendo has not publicly confirmed whether it has adopted AI in developing its games. The company has not used the press conference to say how its own teams work with the technology.
For players, the comments come from a designer whose work has shaped decades of games. They add a voice to a question the industry is still working through: how much of a game's making can be handed to a machine, and what stays with the people who make it.
