Nintendo vows to continue fight against IP infringement, be it by AI or people

Nintendo usually stays far above any online discourse and seldom issues official clarifications. In one of these rare statements, which was released this past weekend, Nintendo denied the recent claims by Japanese politician Asano Satoshi that it was actively lobbying the Japanese government to regulate the use of generative AI.

“Contrary to recent discussions on the internet, Nintendo has not had any contact with the Japanese government about generative AI,” Nintendo stated in a post it published in both Japanese and English. The company added that “whether generative AI is involved or not, we will continue to take necessary actions against infringement of our intellectual property rights.”

Satoshi has since apologized for making these false claims and deleted his original post.

Nintendo has always taken a protective stance when it comes to its IP, often to a frustrating degree for the community, so this attitude is nothing new. It does, however, show Nintendo’s more cautious approach to generative AI, which has been quickly embraced by many other developers around the world (including fellow Japanese studios) and seems to have played a large part in the recently revealed deal to buy out EA and make it a private company by convincing the investors of the possibility of massive cost cuts to shoulder the company's new debts.

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