Whew, you had me worried there for a second, Hideo.
In an interview this past weekend with The Washington Post’s Gene Park, legendary creator Hideo Kojima brought me back to his side after I jumped the fence for the first time in my life following the release of an AI-generated video with his director buddy Nicolas Winding Refn.
I was appalled, as were most fans who grew up with games like Metal Gear Solid and even Death Stranding. My favorite game designer falling victim to gen-AI slop was like a punch in the gut. But thankfully, Kojima’s stance on it is now clearer.
“Art is life,” Kojima said. “But in 50 years, 100 years, I don’t know. Maybe AI could create art, but while I live, I don’t think I’ll see it. I’m not interested in it. We’ll find a good way, a good path to how we use technology, and it’s really up to young people on how we use it.”
The video was made by Winding Refn to promote the duo appearing at a Prada art exhibit in New York City this past weekend. It grossed me out, creating an uncanny valley version of Kojima that makes my skin crawl to look at. But Kojima apparently had little part in it, and never shared the video on his social channels. He did, however, repost the Washington Post interview where the quote can be found.
Winding Refn, meanwhile, called AI “fascinating.”
“It’s a terrifying time we live in because everything is so uncertain,” Winding Refn said. “But then, life has always been uncertain. The gasoline that keeps your creativity going is uncertainty, because it makes you always have to innovate. Re-create yourself. Re-create the future.”
Kojima has multiple new projects in the works, including the XBOX horror title OD, and a stealth action game that’s many years away, codenamed PHYSINT. I’d expect the latter to have some themes or at least characters representing AI (like most of his projects before this one), but the hope now is that, with his stance solidified, the games won’t be made using it.
