"Nintendo has not had any contact with the Japanese government about generative AI": The Switch maker shoots down rumors, but insists it'll keep fighting "infringement of our intellectual property"

Despite rumors to the contrary, Nintendo has denied lobbying the Japanese government to regulate generative AI but - surprise, surprise - the company that filed a lawsuit against Palworld over its Pokemon similarities says it'll keep taking action against IP infringement.

The rumors first ran wild after Japanese politician Satoshi Asano claimed the console maker was lobbying the government to protect its IP against AI - a claim he's since retracted and apologized for on social media. Satoshi has since deleted his original post due to misinformation. (Thanks, Eurogamer.)

"Contrary to recent discussions on the internet, Nintendo has not had any contact with the Japanese government about generative AI," the mega-publisher clarified in a tweet today. "Whether generative AI is involved or not, we will continue to take necessary actions against infringement of our intellectual property rights."

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Former Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser didn't exactly rule out using generative AI in game development earlier this year, but encouragingly, he also said the company believes "that what makes our games special is our developers, their artistic capabilities, their insight into how people play, so there's always, always going to be a human touch, and a human engagement in how we develop and build our games."

Both statements line up with what Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said about the subject last year, too: "Generative AI, which has been a hot topic in recent years, can be more creative, but we also recognize that it has issues with intellectual property rights."

Check out the upcoming Switch 2 games to see what's on Nintendo's horizon.