Sakurai Says He Has Not Used Generative AI to Make Games
Masahiro Sakurai, the designer behind the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series, says he has not used generative AI to make games and is not using it now. Speaking to the Japanese games magazine Famitsu, he said the technology "has yet to gain my trust."
Generative AI is software that produces text, images or other material from a written prompt. Sakurai made his remarks at an event celebrating the release of his book, Masahiro Sakurai's Thoughts on Games. Eurogamer has also reported the comments.
For Sakurai, the core of game design is coming up with ideas. He said the role of a game designer is to generate ideas, and that "for the time being, we can produce better results by coming up with ideas ourselves."
He was also clear that standing still is not the answer. "Doing nothing is probably not the right approach," he said, describing his own stance as "a slow-paced approach" for the time being. He added that the use of generative AI must not become exploitation, a point that touches on concerns raised by artists and writers whose work may be used to train such tools.
What stands out here is the balance. Sakurai is neither rejecting the technology outright nor embracing it. He is watching it, testing the ground slowly, and keeping the creative work in human hands for now.
Many developers across the industry are working through the same questions about where these tools fit in their studios. Sakurai's answer, for the moment, is patience.
