It truly shows the sad state of our world that we sometimes look at something that appears beautiful and pure and are almost forced to ask ourselves, “Is there something beneath the surface that I should know about?” Yes, that’s a grim way of thinking, but we’re pretty sure you can all think of times when that hypothetical situation came to pass. If not, we’ll give you one right now, as many video game developers and publishers have weighed in on using AI to help “enhance” their games, and that has led some to wonder if Mario Kart World and others already have AI-generated images or models within them.
That might come as a shock to some, but it’s a question that many are indeed asking. In the case of Mario Kart World, there were some who looked at the trailers and demos and thought they saw AI images in things like posters within the world and other things that simply “looked off.”
To be fair, that is something that can indicate whether AI is used, so it’s not to be criticized as “fear-mongering” or something of the like. However, it did get so pervasive that Eurogamer reached out to Nintendo about it, and the company said the following:
“AI-generated images were not used in the development of Mario Kart World.”
First of all, that’s really great to hear. Second of all, that reinforces statements that many Nintendo leaders, including Shigeru Miyamoto and Doug Bowser have said in the past about AI. Both of them noted that The Big N would go in “different directions” than others regarding AI, while also noting that they will always rely on the “human element” to make their games stand out.
That’s one of many reasons to appreciate Nintendo, unlike many other companies, which have or will continue to use AI in the future for generative reasons. We’ve already seen companies like Square Enix, Amazon Games, and even Level-5 state that they were either going to use AI in their games or have already used it and merely had game developers “clean things up.”
Many feel that’s a “slippery slope” that could cause a lot of problems down the line, including letting many people go from their jobs because “AI can do it better.”
However, on the Nintendo front, that doesn’t seem to be an issue right now. With the Nintendo Switch 2 on the way, you can bet many non-AI-produced titles will be playable very soon.
