Level-5 CEO Says “80-90% Of Games Are Already Created By AI”, But Need A Human’s “Aesthetic Eye” To Ensure Quality
In adding his voice to the ongoing debate regarding the use of AI in video game development, Level-5 CEO and President Akihiro Hino has asserted that despite the rise in such technologies, the key to a game’s quality still relies on a human creator having an “aesthetic eye” when it comes to machine generated content.
Hino, whose studio oversees such noted franchises as Yo-kai Watch, Inazuma Eleven, Ni no Kuni, and Megaton Mushashi, weighed in on this topic while giving the welcoming speech to recent enrollees of the Top Game Creators Academy, a joint initiative sponsored by Japan’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association and the government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs aimed at helping the development of young video game creators “with excellent ideas and technical skills who can create original game IP and content that will be recognized worldwide.”
Per a recap of the event provided by Japanese video game news outlet Famitsu, Hino concluded the introduction ceremony with a short speech on the topic of AI development, which he opened by telling the incoming class, “Through this program, I have high expectations for the birth of creators who will go on to become global leaders. I myself am still active as a creator, and recently I have been thinking that ‘AI is encroaching on the world of creation.'”
Providing a surprising revelation, Hino then asserted, “In current programming, 80-90% of the code is written by AI, which is then modified by human programmers to create the final form, which means that at present, “80-90% of games are already created by AI.'”
“AI is not limited to programming, but is also making inroads into the fields of art, music, and planning,” he explained. “It has already become a common practice in the creative world to borrow the power of AI to improve work efficiency.”
However, rather than having these new talents take this information as a ‘doom and gloom’ scenario, Hino proceeded to note that such technology was not a full replacement for human talent, declaring, “In such a situation, I believe that what is required of creators is an ‘aesthetic eye.'”
“In other words, they must be able to distinguish between what is good and what is bad,” Hino emphasized. “In other words, whether created by AI or by humans, it is necessary to have an eye for selecting the best ones from a director’s point of view and incorporating them into the work.”
Turning his attention to the Academy itself, the CEO then declared, “The TGCA is the perfect place to hone this aesthetic eye.”
“One cannot become a top creator by simply performing tasks,” he warned. “The creators who will be active in the future will need to be able to use tools such as AI as their own hands and feet, and to finish their work with an aesthetic eye for improvement.”
Bringing his address to a close, Hino ultimately championed, “The TGCA is not just a place to learn game development techniques, but also a place to hone such a sense of style, so I hope that young creators will make the most of this program and create works that can compete with the world.”
Notably, while many have responded to the advent of AI-generated content with outrage, their complaints primarily concerning how such technologies are being widely adopted as a substitute for genuine creativity, Hino is one of the few who have argued in favor of treating it as a yet another tool in an artist’s toolkit.
In fact, Level-5 has already taken to adopting the technology, revealing their own prominent use of AI as part of a 2023 government-sponsored study into IP rights.
According to the information shared by the studio, Level-5 has been using the specific Stable Diffusion image generation model to help make preliminary drafts of title screens, promotional images, and 3D models, as well as providing visual touch ups like line-art sharpening and the addition of background elements (like crowds or buildings), while other AI programs have been used for character proposals, temporary voice acting, and even actual code for both their games and websites.
But even back then, Level-5 emphasized that they not only were they strictly using AI for such menial tasks as “creating basic data,” “making proposals,” and “improving quality,” but they were also making sure that a human touch was used in both finalizing and subsequently approving the machine content.
And admittedly, Hino’s insistence on AI being used merely as a tool holds a lot of weight, as without any human reviews or edits, the infamous and tell-tale signs of AI “art”, like nonsensical details or blurred elements, are readily apparent, thus communicating a ‘lack of care’ from a given developer.
For a prominent example of the potential pitfalls facing a game developer who chooses to rely solely on AI generated text and images, look no further than the recent debacle surrounding Shin Megami Tensei series artist Kazuma Kaneko’s new deck builder, Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter, which despite using an AI generator trained solely on his own work was met with extreme apprehension from his own fans.
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