Nintendo’s legendary Kirby designer Masahiro Sakurai weighs in on gen-AI, saying “it has yet to gain my trust” but not to reject it completely

Masahiro Sakurai, the designer of Super Smash Bros. and several Kirby games, says he is not using generative AI in game development because it has yet to earn his trust. He cautions that its use, especially in graphics, must not exploit anyone, and says people can currently produce better results through their own ideas.

However, Sakurai does not think the industry should dismiss the technology outright: making games has become so difficult that some projects lose money despite selling millions of copies. He warned that companies may need to change their approach to survive, while stressing that deciding where and how AI should be used remains uncertain. For now, he is taking a slow-paced approach.