As more time passes, online users have started scrutinizing Gen AI in the media, and it seems like Nintendo has been caught in the crossfire for a little ad campaign. The matter originates from a recent social media post on Nintendo’s US store account.
The ad campaign sought to promote My Mario, which is a product line of toys, games, and various other experiences surrounding the video game IP and its characters. Social media users were quick to point out that something was off about the promotional materials.
Some of the proportions of human models in the photographs were a little off-putting, according to several Twitter/X users. Gen AI has come a long way, but it still has some identifiable flaws when generating human-like figures, and it’s mostly the proportions around the hands.
The divide in fandom over AI panic
But it is also very plausible that the features that look flawed are very much an optical illusion for the viewers. This led to massive debates over social media replies, with some criticizing Nintendo of previously promising not to side with Gen AI.
In a New York Times interview from a few years back, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo came out to say that the company will not be using Gen AI in any of its creative processes. They would rather go in a ‘different direction’ when the entire media industry is trying to advance towards AI.
Some fans bought up these previous statements in mockery, accusing the company of breaking their trust. While the rest of the fans of Nintendo who found this situation blown out of proportion actually sat down to decipher the situation with their own tools.
People are not ready to trust the official word
Bluesky user @eternazrael.bsky.social drew her own representation of hands overlayed on top of the images to justify that it’s all in the mind. She expressed frustrations over how the internet has become a playing field for panic around Gen AI.
Unfortunately, posts like these are getting lobbed with accusations of ‘protecting the billion-dollar company.’ But an actual confirmation that the posts are not AI-generated has resurfaced on social media. One of the models came out claiming that the photographs are real and involve actual people.
Nintendo officially reached out to debunk the images in the Kotaku report regarding the same controversy. The matter has been escalated to such an extent that some people on social media are straight up denying to believe that there were any miscreancies.
The video game industry in general is facing accusals
This is not the first time Nintendo has seen itself being thrown under the bus for Gen AI accusations. During the Treehouse livestream of Mario Kart World, some fans pointed out AI placeholders in the game.
With the world of digital media getting more engulfed in the age of AI, social media has pretty much become a ground for panic regarding generative fake images. Nintendo is not the only company that is having to defend itself back and forth.
Big developers such as Larian Studios and even the team behind Award Winning Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 came under fire even for admitting to using AI.
