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Hideo Kojima got to live out his well-documented dream of visiting space recently, but don't get too excited, it was only via an appearance in an AI-generated Prada ad. It was tremendously bleak and no one liked it.
Including, I suppose, Hideo Kojima himself? In a recent chat with The Washington Post, Kojima said that—ignore all previous advertising stunts—he's actually not interested in AI at all, and doesn't think it's going to create anything you could meaningfully call art during his lifetime.
"Art is life. But in 50 years, 100 years, I don’t know. Maybe AI could create art, but while I live, I don’t think I’ll see it," said Kojima. "I'm not interested in it." Kojima's celeb pal and Prada co-star Nicolas Winding Refn, who was also present, was a little less reserved: "It’s a terrifying time we live in because everything is so uncertain. But then, life has always been uncertain. The gasoline that keeps your creativity going is uncertainty, because it makes you always have to innovate. Re-create yourself. Re-create the future."
Perhaps it's the case that Kojima was stung by public criticism of his AI-embracing fashion ad, but I wouldn't be so certain.
The Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator never publicly budged when he drew criticism for a much-publicised trip to Saudi Arabia on his Death Stranding 2 tour (Saudi Arabia, which has a grim human rights record, is often criticised for using sports and entertainment to sanitise its international reputation). I'd be surprised if Kojima's iffiness on AI is a product of anything but the simple recognition that it, well, isn't very good for art.
Anyway, Kojima says it's on you kids to figure out how to use LLMs in a way that doesn't suck. "We’ll find a good way, a good path to how we use technology," he said, "and it’s really up to young people on how we use it." Ideally, a way that features fewer famous game designers cashing in on their image for a quick cheque.
