Japan's
House of Representatives member Satoshi Asano retracted a
statement made on his official X account (formerly Twitter) claiming that Nintendo had
put pressure on the Japanese government around the use of generative
artificial intelligence.
In his
message published on Sunday, Asano acknowledged that his post contained
incorrect information. "I have discovered that my post contained erroneous
information, so I would like to correct it. I apologize especially to all the
people involved," said the legislator.
In his new
statement, the politician clarified: "Nintendo is aware of the use of
generative AI in video game development from the perspective of intellectual
property protection. The company has not lobbied the government. Its policy is
to act appropriately in the face of copyright infringements, with or without
the use of artificial intelligence."
Nintendo's
official response
On
Saturday, October 5, Nintendo publicly responded to Asano's initial statements
through its official X account. The company denied having had contact with the
Japanese government regarding generative AI and reiterated its commitment to
protecting its intellectual property rights.
Nintendo's
full statement noted: "Contrary to recent discussions on the internet,
Nintendo has not had any contact with the Japanese government about generative
artificial intelligence. Regardless of whether it is involved or not, we will
continue to take the necessary actions against any infringement of our
intellectual property rights."
Context
of the debate
Asano's original post, now deleted, referred to copyright protection against the use of artificial intelligence. In that message, he cited cases such as the lawsuits of The Yomiuri Shimbun against Perplexity AI, and of The New York Times and Getty Images against OpenAI and Stability AI, respectively.
