Cast your minds back to last month, and you will recall a rather bizarre video featuring Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima travelling through space and crashing on a hostile planet. This wasn’t a promotion for a new game, rather it was a collaboration with filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn and fashion house Prada for an art installation. Oh, the short film – known as Satellites II – was made with the help of AI tools, which you won’t be surprised to hear ruffled more than a few feathers.
Following this reveal, Kojima has now spoken more about the use of AI, and in what to me feels slightly like backpeddling, told the Washington Post “art is life”, before suggesting the controversial tech won’t be able to create art during his lifetime.
“But in 50 years, 100 years, I don’t know. Maybe AI could create art,” Kojima said during a profile of the art exhibit (thanks, Kotaku), “but while I live, I don’t think I’ll see it. I’m not interested in it.” Continuing, Kojima said we will eventually find “a good way” and “a good path” for how we use AI, but really that will be “up to young people” to decide.
As Kotaku notes, it is a little difficult to fully work out where Kojima’s stance on AI actually lands. An email sent from Valve’s Gabe Newell to Elon Musk in 2018, reads: “Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear series, a real visionary in our field) was here at Valve talking about his new game [Death Stranding], and he mentioned the importance he places on future work in AI … He was talking about how much he wants to go into space, and I offered to introduce him to you.” Then, in a 2025 interview with Wired Japan, Kojima said he plans to “[create] together with AI”, and the technology could “boost efficiency”.
The recent Washington Post article reiterated this, stating “Kojima says AI works best as a janitor for creative chores, and that humans need to stay in the room where art gets made”, so he is clearly more on board with the technology than other game developers who are keen to shun it. But how Kojima chooses to use AI in his future games – the Xbox horror OD and Metal Gear spiritual successor Physint – remains to be seen.
There is currently a debate as to whether or not studios should disclose when AI has been used during the development of a game. In November of last year, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney said it made “no sense” for developers to disclose AI use any more, and we may as well ask them what kind of shampoo they use.
Others are less convinced, and disagree that AI will become so commonplace that disclosing its use will become a moot point. Meanwhile, the likes of Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the game director of The Witcher 3 and co-director of Cyberpunk 2077, believes games made with AI will have no soul, but also that there can be good uses of AI during development. Aloy actress Ashly Burch similarly appreciates AI may have its uses, but it should never replace human creativity.
