Like many other creators, Yoko Taro, creator and director of Nier Automata, fears that generative AI technology will advance to the point where it could replace game creators.

In an interview with Famitsu, Taro admitted his fears that game developers and creators could find themselves out of work in the next five decades, with how generative AI technology is evolving.

While speaking to Yoko Taro, Kotaro Uchikoshi, and Jiro Ishii, the topic of generative AI came up regarding how it could influence the video game industry and what its impact will be on creative industry’s overall.

Uchikoshi began saying, “There are a lot of new games I want to create, but with AI technology evolving at such a high speed, I fear that there is a possibility that AI-generated adventure games will become mainstream.”

Taro added, “I, too, believe that game creators may lose their jobs because of AI. There’s a chance that in 50 years, game creators will be treated like bards…I think that in the future, we will move from an era where we have to imitate the style of our favorite creators to an era where we can have our favorite scenarios generated.“

“AI will determine the preferences of users and skillfully generate route branchings that they would want to read, and the recommendation capabilities will continue to improve.”

It’s understandable that Taro would have these fears, as it is for any creative to share these concerns, though it’s not an inevitable fate. Generative AI may be constantly improving, but it’s still a pipe dream to imagine that it would, in any genuine way, replace the best artists of our time. For video games, Yoko Taro is one of the best artists in the industry.

He’ll still be regarded as such 50 years from now, and there will be a whole new crop of creators pushing the industry forward. Generative AI technology can and will improve as much as possible. Still, it won’t ever be able to create anything new in the same way artists like Yoko Taro can.