Professor Layton studio Level-5's CEO admits using AI to make its digital showcase "more spectacular"

CEO insists the "charm and individuality" are still created by "human hands".

Level-5 president and CEO Akihiro Hino has confirmed that generative AI was used in the studio's recent showcase.

As spotted by VGC, fans quickly called out suspected undisclosed AI after the studio's digital showcase debuted last week.

Now, in response to the backlash, Hino has confirmed AI was used to make the presentation footage "more spectacular", admitting: "It appears that some people felt uncomfortable about this, so I deeply apologise".

"I was SO excited when Level-5 announced their big comeback with Professor Layton, Decapolice, Yo-Kai Watch, and more," wrote one fan on X/Twitter. "But seeing this much blatant genAI being used across their games… yeah, this ain't it."

"This time, because we used AI for the footage within the event, it seems that concerns have arisen regarding the content of the works as well, so I would like to provide an explanation," Hino said on X/Twitter (as translated by machine).

"It was entirely due to the desire to make the presentation more spectacular that we incorporated processing that also served as an experiment using the latest AI. It appears that some people felt uncomfortable about this, so I deeply apologise."

"However, at our company, the parts that relate to the charm and individuality of the released works - such as scenarios, character designs, and basic settings - are all created by human hands," he insisted.

"What we're aiming for in terms of efficiency through AI is mainly the digitisation of creative work made by people, for example, accurately converting original artwork into polygons and such. Please rest assured that no simplistic AI-generated output data is included in the games that are released."

He also claimed Level-5 used AI as "trial and error" as part of its commitment to slicing development time from five years down to two.

"That said, it's undeniable that this time, out of the desire to create a clear and flashy presentation, we ended up using AI in a wide variety of ways," he said. "We will take this as a lesson and carry it forward to the next one, so please look forward to Level Five's next presentation."

Level-5 is not alone, of course - many other game companies, including Krafton, Square Enix, EA, and more, have invested heavily in AI tech.