According to a recent statement given to Eurogamer, Nintendo has said that Mario Kart World does not contain any AI-generated images. Why would the game even have that, you may ask? Despite how Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser stated just last month that he believes developers are what makes Nintendo’s games special and not AI, nitpicky fans have combed over the Treehouse Live presentation for Mario Kart World and spotted what they assumed were AI-generated textures.
In some blink and you’ll miss it footage, viewers noticed that a few of the billboards contained in Mario Kart World have features similar to what AI-generated imagery contains. The first showcases a bridge with the writing “We Build Your Town” that is a little wavy and ill-defined with regards to proportions. Another next to it reads “We Build Your Dreams” and features some architecture that you wouldn’t exactly call realistic. The last features an oddly proportioned station wagon with elongated windows and a stout frame. Could that be AI?
There is a small possibility Nintendo is unintentionally lying to Eurogamer. While I don’t believe these billboards are placeholder textures, maybe Nintendo purchased some art to quickly mock up a demo, and that art contains AI that wasn’t properly disclosed. In that case, the company wouldn’t know and could potentially sue whichever company it got the art from. What seems more likely, however, is that people are jumping the gun on what is a specific art style used for Mario Kart World.
It should be no surprise by this point in time, but Nintendo doesn’t make games that feature realistic depictions of everyday life. Some of its newer games have drifted a bit more into realism, but you also have Super Mario Odyssey featuring regular-looking humans alongside short, pudgy Mario. The track where these billboards are found in Mario Kart World might somewhat resemble an actual city, but it also contains elements of cartoony design and unnatural dimensions. Commenters on Eurogamer’s post have even mentioned that the car featured on the billboard can be spotted driving around the streets, and it looks exactly the same in-game.
While we can’t be 100% certain if Nintendo is pulling the wool over our eyes with this one, until Mario Kart World is actually out in the wild, we won’t know whether AI is in the game or not. Nintendo has stated no, and that will be the official word until we can finally look at the game in motion.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
