In the ever-evolving landscape of game development, the integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly prevalent. From Activision's use of AI-generated art in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to Microsoft's development of Muse, an AI tool designed to generate game ideas, the influence of AI is undeniable. However, Mojang, the developer behind the iconic game Minecraft, has firmly stated its stance against incorporating such technology into its creative process.
Minecraft, the best-selling game of all time with over 300 million copies sold, continues to prioritize human creativity over AI. During a recent event attended by IGN, Agnes Larsson, the game director for Minecraft Vanilla, emphasized the importance of human creativity: "Here for us, just like Minecraft is about creativity and creating, I think it's important that it makes us feel happy to create as humans. That's a purpose, [it] makes life look beautiful. So for us, we really want it to be our teams that make our games."
Echoing Larsson's sentiments, Ingela Garneij, the executive producer of Minecraft Vanilla, highlighted the challenges of maintaining the unique essence of Minecraft through AI: "For me, it's the thinking outside of the box part. This specific touch of: what is Minecraft? How does it look? That extra quality is really tricky to create through AI. We even try to have remote teams sometimes and guide them in building things for us, which has never worked, because you have to be here working together face-to-face. I mean creativity is... you need to meet like this as a person, as a human to really truly understand the values and principles and the ecosystem, the lore, everything. It's so massive Minecraft, it's a planet, it's massive."
Mojang's commitment to human-driven development remains steadfast, even as they continue to build upon Minecraft's record-breaking success. The upcoming graphics update, Vibrant Visuals, is set to enhance the game further, and Mojang has no plans to make Minecraft free-to-play or to develop a "Minecraft 2." Despite being 16 years old, Minecraft shows no signs of slowing down, and Mojang remains resolute in keeping generative AI out of the game's development process.
For more information on what's next for Minecraft, be sure to check out everything announced at Minecraft Live 2025.
