Gundam franchise director Kenji Kamiyama has revealed that his new spin-off series, Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO, was directly inspired by growing anxieties around artificial intelligence. Speaking to Variety, Kamiyama said the show explores whether humanity can truly control a technology it did not create, or whether it risks being controlled by it instead, framing the series as a metaphor for real-world unease about AI. The project matters as another example of the long-running franchise using science fiction to reflect contemporary societal concerns, a hallmark of Gundam since its 1979 debut.

The series is set in a post-disaster world after a hostile alien artefact disrupts Earth's ecosystem, following war orphan Ray Azumi as he pilots an experimental Gundam against the extraterrestrial threat. Kamiyama, known for reinventing established franchises such as The Lord of the Rings, Ghost in the Shell and Star Wars: Visions, also described anti-war themes as central to the story and explained his choice to set it after the catastrophe rather than during it, allowing viewers to imagine the backstory themselves. The show, developed with sci-fi author EnJoe, will tie into the video game Gundam: Rogue Orbit, set decades later in the same universe.