Square Enix plans to expand use of generative AI in 2024, according to company president

In a New Year’s letter, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu plans to be “aggressive in applying” generative AI to their “content development and publishing functions” going forward.

Kiryu doesn’t really get specific about their intended uses for AI beyond that, merely spending a couple of paragraphs extolling the potential of the relatively new technology. He says, “I believe that generative AI has the potential not only to reshape what we create, but also to fundamentally change the processes by which we create, including programming.”

If you’re not familiar with Square Enix’s New Year’s messages, they have previously been undersigned by former president Yosuke Matsuda. They have, for the past couple of years, delved into the company’s intentions with Web 3.0, NFTs, blockchain, and the Metaverse. Square Enix even went as far as selling off Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal to Embracer Group to help fund their investment in those technologies.

Considering this letter is meant to ring in the New Year after one that was rife with job losses and layoffs, it’s pretty bold to talk about AI. While the letter says nothing about an intention to replace employee processes with the technology, when the topic of the benefits of generative AI comes up, it usually involves the automation of roles. It’s tone-deaf to bring it up as a positive direction when the roles of artists and software engineers are often considered vulnerable to replacement by the technology.

So, in the spirit of that callousness, I feel it’s appropriate to bring up that a not-insignificant portion of executives have stated that their own jobs could be replaced by AI.

On the other hand, it can be perceived as amusing to hear Square Enix say this sort of thing – even bringing up text-based dialogue – when their previous experiments with such a thing went hilariously awry.