Metal Gear Solid 2 is "often mistaken for a story about AI," Hideo Kojima says, but it's actually about "what human life would become" in the digital age

Hideo Kojima has shot down a common Metal Gear Solid 2 interpretation that reads into the game as a story about AI. To the famed auteur, his sequel is more about what happens to society in the digital age.

"MGS2 is often mistaken for a story about AI, but it's about digital society," Kojima said in an interview with Wired Japan. "MGS1 was about DNA. That's when I thought about the shift from analog to digital. In digital society, everything is preserved. Like social media today. Even graffiti remains without deteriorating. The internet connects everything, and opinions are exchanged directly everywhere. MGS2 explored what human life would become then."

He goes on to emphasize that the stealth sequel "wasn't about AI" - it was instead about "interweaving digital data gaining a will of its own." Unfortunately, his fictional future is inching closer to our reality.

"24 years have passed," he added. "It has become somewhat of a reality. I didn't predict it. [It's] rather a future I didn't desire, but unfortunately we're heading there."

The video game auteur also offered thoughts on generative AI, more specifically. in recent weeks, explaining that he thinks of the tech "as more of a friend" to be used to "boost efficiency" while he handles all the creative work. "I'd like AI to handle the tedious tasks that would lower cost and cut down on time," he said.

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