Mojang Rejects Generative AI, Emphasizes Creativity in Minecraft

Minecraft developer Mojang has firmly stated that it has no plans to integrate generative artificial intelligence into its game development process. Despite the growing trend of using generative AI in game development, as evidenced by Activision's use of AI-generated art in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Microsoft's development of Muse, an AI designed to generate game ideas, Mojang remains committed to the human touch that has made Minecraft the best-selling game of all time, with over 300 million copies sold.

During a recent event attended by IGN, Minecraft Vanilla game director Agnes Larsson emphasized the importance of human creativity in the game's development. "Here for us, just like Minecraft is about creativity and creating," Larsson stated, "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."

Ingela Garneij, executive producer of Minecraft Vanilla, further elaborated on this sentiment, highlighting the unique human element that defines Minecraft. "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."

Garneij continued, "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 dedication to human creativity continues to drive the game forward. The upcoming graphics update, dubbed Vibrant Visuals, is set to enhance the visual experience of the game, and Mojang remains steadfast in its decision not to make Minecraft free-to-play. This approach aligns with Mojang's philosophy of continuously improving and expanding the original game, rather than creating a "Minecraft 2." Despite being 16 years old, Minecraft shows no signs of slowing down, and generative AI remains absent from its development process.

For more details on upcoming updates, be sure to check out everything announced at Minecraft Live 2025.