Hideo Kojima's AI Prada video triggers massive fan backlash over generative AI use

'Diarrhea from a butt': Kojima fans fume over AI Prada video

Another day, another infuriating instance of generative AI slop on social media. Only this time, one of the stars of the show is one of gaming's most venerated creators: Hideo Kojima. Alongside his Death Stranding collaborator, the Danish filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn, Kojima appears in a 90-second teaser for a six-minute short film promoting Prada Mode, a pop-up nightclub from the fashion label. Kojima's fans aren't happy about his involvement in the project, and they're making those feelings abundantly clear on social media. In the teaser shared on Refn's X account, Kojima and Refn play space travelers in '60s-inspired silver suits who pilot a silver saucer. After an impeccably stylish session of what appears to be space checkers, a siren wails and their spacecraft very gently crashes on a nearby planet. The duo emerge from a pool of green water and make exertion noises near a large gray octopus without actually fighting it. Then, their craft is telepathically lifted from the water by an attractive blonde woman (but of course) who appears to be levitating colorful rocks with her mind. The spacemen continue on their journey and stop in New York City, presumably to attend the Prada Mode activation at the Chelsea Hotel from June 3-7. Okay, sure. "Throughout our extended friendship, Hideo Kojima and I have shared the feeling that we were somehow split from the same consciousness moving through different lives while orbiting the same obsessions. That idea became the spark for a film: a space odyssey following us as we traverse a sci-fi dreamscape," said Winding Refn in a statement to Women's Wear Daily, which first reported the story. "Created in collaboration with Prada, the project is both an artistic experiment and a playful exploration of new creative possibilities through AI technology." That last bit, about "playful exploration of new creative possibilities through AI technology" rubbed quite a few people the wrong way. Over on X, commenters did not hold back their frustration at two revered creators using AI. "Heartbreaking to see such great artists resort to generative AI slop," wrote one. "Hey @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN I'm a huge fan, love everything you've ever done, except for this. Please never involve yourself with AI slop ever again. You're better than this. said another. Newsletter: Smart context on AI and creative work Subscribe to the newsletter for clear, expert coverage of AI in creative fields - games, film, fashion - and thoughtful analysis of controversies, technological uses, and what AI adoption means for creators and creative practice. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. There are plenty of good zingers to be found here, but this one is my personal favorite: "Oh buddy this is ass. This is diarrhea from a butt." Kojima hasn't talked at great length about the role of AI technology in creative mediums, though he hasn't ruled out using it in his own work. "Rather than having AI create visuals or anything like that, I'm more interested in using AI in the control systems," Kojima told CNN in December 2025. "By using AI, enemy behavior could change based on the player's experience, actions and patterns. That kind of dynamic response would make much deeper gameplay possible." I watched Hideo Kojima's favorite new sci-fi movie, and it blew me away A hard-hitting futuristic noir that evokes the golden age of anime Posts 5

Hideo Kojima and Nicolas Winding Refn have teamed up for a Prada mode event teaser exploring "new creative possibilities through AI technology"

Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn have teamed up again after Death Stranding 2, but they aren't working on a new game or movie. Instead, they've released a short made with the help of AI tools for Prada. The "teaser film" - which you can (partially) watch here - was revealed this week at the 79th Cannes Film Festival by Prada. It's meant to promote an upcoming mode event in New York next month even if the setting and vibes are purely sci-fi and retro-inspired. The full thing runs for six minutes and shows Refn and Kojima themselves travelling through space and crashing on a hostile planet, but the teaser released online is much shorter. Though the creative process hasn't been fully explained, this "artistic experiment" was "a playful exploration of new creative possibilities through AI technology" because getting two people in a couple of old-fashioned sets was probably too expensive for Prada. At some point in the video, Kojima subtly morphs into a guy that's clearly not him. In any case, Refn sounds quite proud about the duo's Satellites II short, calling it "a space odyssey following us as we traverse a sci-fi dreamscape". At the time of writing, it's unclear what Kojima has to say about the endeavour, but Refn has also added they "have shared the feeling that we were somehow split from the same consciousness moving through different lives while orbiting the same obsessions", which forced me to do a double take. Unsurprisingly, the online reactions are mostly negative: "All right then, Mr. Kojima, have fun in the festering slop pit with the rest of the AI weirdos," a ResetEra user commented. "First Kojima shot is 50% Kojima, 50% Pedro Pascal," another post pointed out. Even the folks over at X are feeling bad about this: "Heartbreaking to see such great artists resort to generative AI slop."

Hideo Kojima Collaborates With Prada On AI Slop Short Film

Hideo Kojima, the celebrated director behind Metal Gear and Death Stranding, is a known movie sicko. Now that he’s got the cache to do so, he’s been making some pivots to work on movies alongside games, like the upcoming Death Stranding film. But before he actually makes a movie, he’s working with fashion company Prada and Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn, the face of Heartman in the Death Stranding series, on a short film. But don’t get too excited, as it’s a piece of AI-generated slop. The short film is part of Prada's upcoming Mode event taking place in New York from June 3 to 7, and it "stars" Winding Refn and Kojima as space travelers doing things that barely cohere as a story and eventually ending up at the Chelsea Hotel where the Prada event will take place next month. Winding Refn released a short teaser of the full six-minute video, and it’s more than enough to see that it’s a nostalgia play desperately clinging to the aesthetic of â€~50s sci-fi movies, and also looks like shit. “Throughout our extended friendship, Hideo Kojima and I have shared the feeling that we were somehow split from the same consciousness moving through different lives while orbiting the same obsessions,†Winding Refn said in a statement about the project. That idea became the spark for a film: a space odyssey following us as we traverse a sci-fi dreamscape. Created in collaboration with Prada, the project is both an artistic experiment and a playful exploration of new creative possibilities through AI technology.â€Â Gross. Looking at it, I’m somewhat surprised Kojima signed off on the short film considering how awkward and stilted it looks, but he has gone on record as saying he thinks AI will be just as significant to game development as the jump to 3D was, and that he thinks of the plagiarism machine as “a friend,†so maybe this passes the smell test for him. I think he should get better friends, like human beings who could do the work he and Winding Refn are trying to avoid entirely by putting prompts in a generator to make it look like they went on cool space adventures in an effort to jingle keys in front of out-of-touch rich people who can’t stop pontificating about how cool it is that we’re ripping the humanity out of all our art to cut costs.

AI Hideo Kojima wears Prada in controversial sci-fi campaign

With retro vibes and a ridiculous kaiju, what is the game designer saying about AI? The devil wears Prada, and it seems so does video games designer Hideo Kojima, or at least AI-generated Prada. Following an initial collaboration in Tokyo last year, the creator of Metal Gear and Death Stranding is heading to New York for Prada Mode's Satellites II at the Hotel Chelsea in June. Coinciding with the Tribeca Festival, the exhibition is a collaboration with the Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, whose most recent movie is the sci-fi thriller Her Private Hell. Prada says the project will explore "love, language, and creativity through the artists' enduring dialogue and friendship. Winding Refn's studio ByNWR, which also runs a streaming platform focused on restoring rare cult and exploitation films, has teased a surreal short promoting the event, and it's causing controversy over the apparent use of AI. The video in the post above is a 90-second teaser for a six-minute short film for what will be the 14th edition of the Prada Mode series of cultural events and private showings. Kojima and Refn appear as space travellers in a UFO that softly crashes on an alien planet before the duo are confronted by an octopus-like kaiju only to be saved by a blonde woman who telepathically frees their craft from the marshy waters. It's both a tribute to and a spoof of the retro exploitation movies that movies that Winding Refn is so fond of, from Barbarella to Japanese monster movies. Typical of Kojima, it's also enigmatic. Is it making fun of the sloppiness of generative AI video or celebrating it? Is it suggesting that the weird, stilted and incoherent output of AI video generators is no more or less convincing than the practical effects used in campy sci-fi movies of the past. "Throughout our extended friendship, Hideo Kojima and I have shared the feeling that we were somehow split from the same consciousness moving through different lives while orbiting the same obsessions. That idea became the spark for a film: a space odyssey following us as we traverse a sci-fi dreamscape," Winding Refn is quoted as saying by Women's Wear Daily But gamers are pointing out that Kojima has criticised AI in the past. His games, have shown Kojima to be a master of futuregazing, a vital skill for any true science fiction auteur. In the Metal Gear Solid series, he foresaw the age of algorithmic control, echo chambers and AI-driven misinformation, and criticised over-reliance on technology, warning that AI could be used by authoritarian systems to manipulate narratives. Many fans of the games see Kojima's appearance in the Prada campaign as contradicting that warning. "Have you even played your own games Kojima? What happened to AI being corrupt [and] taking over the country. What happened to there being much more to people than their genetic code?" one person asks on X. "Oh buddy this is ass. This is diarrhea from a butt," another person writes succinctly. Despite the themes of his games, Kojima hasn't actually suggested that he's against using generative AI himself, although he did tell CNN in December that "rather than having AI create visuals or anything like that, I'm more interested in using AI in the control systems. By using AI, enemy behavior could change based on the player's experience, actions and patterns. That kind of dynamic response would make much deeper gameplay possible." Prada describes Satellites II as an immersive, multi-day experience involving a spatial narrative that "reflects the balance between private environments and collective accessibility". During a private programme, select guest rooms will function as micro television studios, hosting original performances for invited participants. These same spaces will later reopen to the public as intentional installations. Satellites II will take place in New York at the Hotel Chelsea from 3 to 7 June. For more AI video news, don't miss the controversy around Amazon's AI KPop Demon Hunters mockbuster.