Nintendo Denies AI Lobbying Claims, Reaffirms IP Protection Stance

Nintendo denies lobbying over genAI, but stresses it will continue fighting IP infringement "whether AI is involved or not"

Nintendo has denied reports that it has been lobbying Japanese lawmakers against generative AI, insisting it "has not had any contact with the Japanese government" about the highly controversial emerging tech. The denial comes after Japanese politician Satoshi Asano posted an apology on social media after claiming Nintendo was lobbying the Japanese government. This was followed by a further apology earlier today, after which Satoshi deleted the original post. While the megacorp typically declines to comment on speculation, on this occasion Nintendo was keen to shoot the rumour down and stressed that while it was not lobbying, "whether generative AI is involved or not, we will continue to take necessary actions against infringement of our intellectual property rights". "Contrary to recent discussions on the internet, Nintendo has not had any contact with the Japanese government about generative AI," the company wrote. "Whether generative AI is involved or not, we will continue to take necessary actions against infringement of our intellectual property rights." Nintendo recently shared its thoughts on generative AI, and assured fans that its games will always have "a human touch", with Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser saying: "We still believe that what makes our games special is our developers, their artistic capabilities, their insight into how people play. So, there's always, always going to be a human touch, and a human engagement in how we develop and build our games." Nintendo's position is at odds with many of its contemporaries. Back in 2024, Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu stated the company would be "aggressive in applying AI", with developers admitting they "dabbled" with AI for the ill-fated shooter Foamstars, Professor Layton studio Level-5 has used AI tool Stable Diffusion, and even Capcom has admitted experimenting with generative AI too. Sega also has an in-house AI team. In fact, a recent survey conducted by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA), the organiser of Tokyo Game Show, showed that over half of Japanese game companies are using AI in their development.

'Nintendo has not had any contact with the Japanese government about generative AI': Nintendo denies anti-AI lobbying rumors

Any handheld PC has its work cut out for it going up against the Nintendo Switch. (Image credit: Dünzl/ullstein bild via Getty Images) Nintendo has released an official response after rumors spread online last week that it was lobbying against generative AI with the Japanese government, as reported by Video Games Chronicle. Nintendo stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter): "Contrary to recent discussions on the internet, Nintendo has not had any contact with the Japanese government about generative AI. Whether generative AI is involved or not, we will continue to take necessary actions against infringement of our intellectual property rights." This statement was sparked by a now-deleted post by Japanese House of Representatives member Satoshi Asano claiming that Nintendo was "engaging in lobbying activities with the government" to push back against the use of generative AI. Asano posted a formal apology on Sunday after Nintendo's denial of the allegations, expressing regret at not adequately confirming the facts. The mix-up comes amidst the tumultuous launch of OpenAI's Sora 2 AI video generation model, which was caught generating videos containing copyrighted content last week, including IP from Nintendo, Pokémon, Studio Ghibli, and more. One such video showed an AI-generated Sam Altman saying, "I hope Nintendo doesn't sue us," as photo-realistic Pokémon run around in the background. Backlash over these videos is likely part of the reason OpenAI is changing its policy for using copyrighted material in Sora. Nintendo is famously protective of its IP, although its stance on the use of generative AI internally isn't fully clear yet. In the past, Nintendo has mentioned steering clear of generative AI for the time being, citing concerns about IP protection, but Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has also said the company is "open to utilizing technological developments." So, generative AI might not be permanently out of the question for Nintendo, which isn't exactly surprising considering over half of Japanese game companies are already using it in some capacity.