Former Square Enix exec says backlash over Final Fantasy 6 AI mock-up shared by the JRPG series' creator "shows how far down the rabbit hole the madness goes"

A former Square Enix executive has weighed in on the discourse surrounding Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi spotlighting a Final Fantasy 6 remake concept created through the use of AI.

Reacting to one of the many stories covering the situation so far, former Square Enix business director Jacob Navok comes down on the side of the JRPG veteran being free to explore AI, if that's what he wants to do.

"People telling a legendary creator about how creators should feel shows how far down the rabbit hole the madness goes," he says, "and how little rationale there is to it."

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Naturally, the topic of artificial intelligence remains polarizing, even among past and present Square Enix staff. When Sakaguchi initially shared the Final Fantasy 6 mock-up that kicked this off, Akitoshi Kawazu – who helped design the first few Final Fantasy games before going on to direct the SaGa series – immediately jumped in to tell Sakaguchi to take it easy.

Of course, it is worth noting that it isn't clear if Sakaguchi knew what he was sharing was created by AI, and his response to the backlash somewhat backs that up, as he says he only did so instinctively. That, and the tech probably wouldn't be able to pull off a Final Fantasy 6 remake right now, though maybe in the future.

What this episode does tell us, though, is that many creators and fans remain unsold on AI. The news comes at a time when Square Enix is actively looking to AI to help with quality assurance and debugging, seemingly at the expense of staff.

Before that particular story broke, I had the opportunity to speak to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi about his own stance on AI. For Hamaguchi, "however much" the technology might "try and intrude and take part in the creative side of things," he backed his team to do it better.

That stance roughly sums up the broader industry's approach at the moment. The idea of AI taking away the tedium so creators can create is consistently pushed to sell people on the technology, and while that might appeal to some of those making games, plenty of other people remain guarded about how much we give over to the controversial technology.

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