Source: https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/level-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games - [Home](https://reinouttebrake.com/) - [Gaming](https://reinouttebrake.com/topic/gaming) - Level-5’s AI Showcase: Faster Production, Player Trust # Level-5’s AI Showcase: Faster Production, Player Trust Level-5’s use of generative AI drew an apology and questions from players. Explore the studio’s production ambitions and the challenge of creative transparency. 14 Sept 2026 2 min read By [Reinout te Brake](https://reinouttebrake.com/about) Updated 17 Oct 2026 ![Akihiro Hino at a Yo-kai Watch event in 2015](https://reinouttebrake.com/assets/editorial/hino-1280.webp) Akihiro Hino at a Yo-kai Watch event, 2015. Photo: Steven Bornholtz. [Source & licence](https://reinouttebrake.com/data#image-credits) Level-5’s use of generative AI in a September 2026 showcase prompted criticism and a response from CEO Akihiro Hino. His statement distinguishes AI-assisted presentation and production from the human-created identity of the studio’s games. After fans spotted strange details and inconsistencies during its latest presentation, CEO Akihiro Hino confirmed that [generative Ai](https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/googles-playground-turns-game-creation-into-a-social-platform) had been used across the show. The reason? To make it more spectacular. Two days later, he apologized. Hino says the creative core of Level-5’s games, as in story, character design and basic world-building, is still made by humans. Ai is meant to accelerate production, not replace that creativity. And the ambition is significant. Level-5 presents AI as a way to accelerate development. That ambition is different from evidence that a particular game has already shipped faster. That makes this more interesting than another argument about whether Ai-generated art is good or bad. Ai promises studios something they desperately need: speed. But players cannot see the production pipeline. They only see the result. If something looks generated, they do not know where Ai ends and human creativity begins. And once that doubt starts with the trailer, it can quickly spread to the product itself. So Ai may create a new production advantage and a new trust problem at exactly the same time. Perhaps transparency is becoming part of product quality. Should game studios tell players exactly where Ai was used? #AI #Gaming #GameDevelopment #GenerativeAI #Level5 ## Sources and context - [Akihiro Hino’s statement, reproduced and translated](https://finalweapon.net/2026/09/12/level-5-ceo-akihiro-hino-comments-on-ai-usage-at-vision-2026-ii-broadcast/) (Statement translation) Filed under [Level-5](https://reinouttebrake.com/category/level-5) ## Tags - [AI](https://reinouttebrake.com/tag/ai) - [Level-5](https://reinouttebrake.com/tag/level-5) Written by [Reinout te Brake](https://reinouttebrake.com/about) Gaming · AI · Tech · Entertainment · Dance Entrepreneur, consultant, investor and board member with 20+ years in tech and gaming, spanning business strategy, development, publishing, growth and investment. [Share on WhatsApp](https://wa.me/?text=Level-5%E2%80%99s%20AI%20Showcase%3A%20Faster%20Production%2C%20Player%20Trust%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Freinouttebrake.com%2Fstories%2Flevel-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games)[Share on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Freinouttebrake.com%2Fstories%2Flevel-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games)[Share by email](mailto:?subject=Level-5%E2%80%99s%20AI%20Showcase%3A%20Faster%20Production%2C%20Player%20Trust&body=https%3A%2F%2Freinouttebrake.com%2Fstories%2Flevel-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games) Cite this article Reinout te Brake. Level-5’s AI Showcase: Faster Production, Player Trust (14 Sept 2026). [https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/level-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games](https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/level-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games) [Article data (JSON)](https://reinouttebrake.com/data/articles/level-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games.json)[Full article text](https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/level-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games.txt)[Markdown](https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/level-5-used-ai-to-impress-players-it-made-them-doubt-the-games.md) Next / Read ## Related reading Follow the subject further. ![A gamer wearing a headset while using a computer](https://reinouttebrake.com/assets/editorial/archive-photo-9072242-1280.webp) [Image: Yan Krukau / Pexels](https://reinouttebrake.com/data#image-credits) More on player safety Gaming 9 Mar 2025 ### [Gaming’s 2025 Slowdown: Layoffs, Budgets and Player Trust](https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/is-gaming-headed-for-collapse-the-hidden-crisis-no-ones-talking-about) A March 2025 analysis of layoffs, rising development budgets and live-service setbacks, asking how publishers could build a more sustainable business. 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