Amanita Design Pushes Back At AI Video Posted As Machinarium Love Letter
The exchange puts a working studio's objection to unauthorized AI reuse of its art on the record while the same studio is developing a direct sequel to that game.
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Amanita Design, the studio behind Machinarium, responded to an AI-generated video posted on X by Sylvio Drouin, described as CEO of Nura Studios, an AI video platform. Drouin billed the video as a love letter to Machinarium. Amanita Design said it takes nerve to feed Machinarium assets into an AI and call the result a love letter, and that the video has nothing to do with their work. Drouin had not replied at the time of writing.
Drouin's own explanation of the video accompanied its release. He wrote that his team has experience working at Unity, that they understand the volume of work game developers put in, and that they take its value seriously. He said the video was meant to demonstrate that AI-made content should still use human-made materials, art, voices, sound effects and music, and that making games episodic should bring in more players.
Amanita Design's answer addressed the framing rather than the technical explanation: a love letter should be handwritten, and the video, in their words, is disgusting and has nothing to do with their work. Replies under the post raised consent and self-promotion, asking whether other people's work should go to AI without permission and whether the video was a way to draw attention to the platform. Drouin had not responded when the article was published.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.