An interview from earlier this year featuring Level-5 CEO and president Akihiro Hino talking positively about AI and claiming the tech is writing 80 percent or more of the studio’s code these days recently went viral online. And now Hino has responded, denying that the studio behind the Professor Layton and Ni no Kuni games has fully shifted to AI programming, but also defending generative AI and claiming it will lead to “greater growth” in the industry.
On December 26, Hino posted a lengthy response to the online “commotion surrounding AI” and the spreading of a past interview on social media that followed in the wake of Clair Obscur losing an award over its usage of the tech. According to Hino, “many game companies” are using AI these days, but not all of them are making it public. He also dismissed the claims that Level-5 is using genAI to write 80 percent or more of the code in the company’s games.
今日はめずらしく、自分が作っているゲームの話ではないことを書きます。
【AIをめぐる騒動について】…
— 日野晃博 (@AkihiroHino) December 26, 2025
“The truth of the matter is that there’s an unreleased title themed around AI, and for that specific title, a programmer mentioned they’re deliberately having AI handle the programming as well,” said Hino. “They used that as an example to suggest that an era like that might be coming, and that’s what got blown out of proportion.”
“On the flip side, if they really were creating 80%–90% percent of the code with AI and successfully making games that way, it’d be incredibly impressive, and they’d be in high demand from the AI community. We haven’t reached that level yet. That said, it’s also true that AI is enabling time savings that can’t be dismissed, and I believe this has the potential to upend common sense in game development. It might shift us from a world where developing the AAA games everyone wants to play takes 5–10 years to one where we get to enjoy them every two years.”
Hino further mentioned that generative AI sometimes gets treated “like it’s synonymous with plagiarism,” a characterization he takes issue with. He continued, “A knife can be used for cooking or as a weapon; a computer can create games or enable cybercrime. AI might produce plagiarized content if misused, but if used properly, it has the power to enrich the creative world even further.”
“I want to see games evolve even more in my lifetime. I want to experience and create dreamlike games that surpass the standards of today’s AAA titles. If we let the impression take hold here that ‘using AI is evil,’ it could seriously hinder the advancement of modern digital technology. I hope creators and audiences alike can recognize AI as a tool that people use to make their works. Here’s to hoping that various technological innovations lead to even greater growth in the game industry!”
