Miyamoto on generative AI: tools change the work, but intent still defines good design

Shigeru Miyamoto has given his view on generative AI in an interview excerpt that was posted to r/gamedev on 2026-10-24. The Reddit post links to the full interview on ndw.jp. The question put to him was how he sees generative AI and games as a form of culture, given that AI is lowering the barriers to making things.

Miyamoto started with history. He pointed to design work before and after computers, from hand lettering to word-processing software that can pull in text and images and render type for you. As those technical skills were automated, he said, a person's sense of layout and individual design ability came to the fore. In his view, AI is the same pattern: tools change how people work.

He then drew a line between creating something and doing the work. Creating, as he described it, means building the overall structure and arranging things toward a goal. Everything after that, such as filling gaps and polishing, is the work. His concern is that the work is enjoyable, so people can become satisfied with it and mistake that satisfaction for having made something good.

For that reason, he said, the more AI handles tasks, the more chances people get to think seriously about what it means to create. He called that a good thing. He added that designs made by copying existing work tend not to endure, while lasting designs come from an individual setting out with clear intention and a computer helping to carry out the work.

Miyamoto did not claim that this will always hold. He said AI might eventually end up doing absolutely everything in the process, though for now he thinks there is still plenty humans can do. These are his remarks in an interview, not a policy statement or product announcement, and the excerpt here comes from a Reddit post rather than the original page. Readers who want the full context should check the ndw.jp interview.