Hideo Kojima warns AI efficiency could hollow out game-making craft

Hideo Kojima said artificial intelligence could make game development faster, but warned that a greater reliance on it could strip away the trial and error that makes creative work rewarding for him.

Speaking to Game*Spark at an Oct. 30 media preview for “Beyond the Strand,” an exhibition marking Kojima Productions’ 10th anniversary, Kojima described the comments as a personal view rather than company policy. He said technological advances had broadened developers’ choices over roughly 40 years, even as storage constraints and schedules continued to limit what teams could make.

AI follows an established pattern of efficiency tools, he said, comparing it with word processors and Photoshop. Such tools can help teams meet deadlines more quickly, and Kojima said easier creation could contribute to a better future depending on how the technology is used.

His objection was to the experience of creation being reduced to prompting, evaluating a result and requesting revisions. “The trial-and-error process in between is what gets my adrenaline pumping and makes the experience engaging,” Kojima said, according to AUTOMATON West.

He distinguished making a product from creativity itself, arguing that a finished result is not the main source of enjoyment for creators. Drawing, he said, is satisfying because of the process, not simply because it produces a picture. He used model kits, jigsaw puzzles, LEGO and plastic models to make the same point: people can value the assembly even where the final object is unchanged.

Kojima said he was concerned about a future in which the pleasure of craftsmanship and experimentation disappears. He said that, while the next five to 10 years should be manageable, unrestricted AI could eventually take a key role in creative fields. He said younger generations would have to determine how to respond to that prospect.

The remarks add to a qualified position Kojima has taken on automation. In an October 2025 Wired Japan interview, he called AI a friend and said it could take on tedious tasks to reduce costs and shorten development. But in separate comments on AI-assisted restoration and remastering, he said systems should understand the artistic reasons behind choices such as lighting before changing original work, and said he disliked the prospect of AI taking work or control from artists.

AI use is already widespread among the studio leaders surveyed by Vivrato in North America and Europe between the second and third quarters of 2026. Of 101 PC and console studio leaders, 97% said they had used AI in some form and 94% used it in at least one production area. Coding and engineering was the most common use, cited by 86%, followed by general productivity at 83% and concept and pre-production at 79%.

That does not indicate equally deep adoption. Vivrato recorded a median AI-integration score of 3 out of 10, with 52% of respondents rating their integration at 3 or below and 7% placing it at 9 or 10. A separate Perforce survey found 69% of 608 respondents actively using generative AI, but covered games alongside other real-time-technology industries, so its results are not directly comparable with Vivrato’s studio sample.