Mojang Rejects Generative AI, Emphasizes Creativity in Minecraft

Minecraft developer Mojang has firmly stated its stance against incorporating generative artificial intelligence into its game development process. Amidst the growing trend of generative AI in the gaming industry, evidenced by Activision's use of AI art in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Microsoft's development of Muse for generating game ideas, Mojang remains committed to preserving the human touch that has propelled Minecraft to become the best-selling game of all time, with an astounding 300 million sales.

At 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."

Echoing this sentiment, Ingela Garneij, executive producer of Minecraft Vanilla, highlighted the unique creative process behind 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. 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, titled Vibrant Visuals, is set to enhance the visual experience of Minecraft, and the company remains steadfast in its decision not to make the game free-to-play. This approach aligns with Mojang's philosophy of continually 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 what's coming to Minecraft, be sure to check out everything announced at Minecraft Live 2025.