SEGA Sammy has confirmed that CEO Haruki Satomi’s policy is to keep generative AI out of the direct creative work behind games and other entertainment content, with the company emphasizing the importance of human creativity in maintaining fans’ trust.
The position is outlined in SEGA Sammy’s Integrated Report 2026, released November 2, where external director Kohei Katsukawa expresses his support for Satomi’s approach to generative AI.
Speaking in the report’s External Directors’ Dialogue, Katsukawa specifically backs Satomi’s policy of:
Katsukawa: At the same time, I strongly support CEO Satomi’s policy of not using generative AI directly in the creative aspects of games and other content. Game creation is about providing captivating experiences to fans, and valuing uniquely human creativity helps build relationships of trust with our fans. This commitment to creativity has received strong support at the General Meeting of Shareholders, where many shareholders are also fans, and I hope the Group continues to value it as a way to enhance the Group’s brand value.
He argues that games are ultimately about creating experiences that captivate players, and that preserving human creativity helps build trust between developers and their fans.
Katsukawa also says the company’s commitment to creativity has received strong support at shareholder meetings, where many attendees are themselves fans of SEGA’s games.
Fellow external director Naoko Murasaki shares that view, explaining that SEGA’s development teams take pride in creating worlds that AI cannot replicate. She also points to players’ sensitivity to the difference between work shaped by its creators and AI-generated material.
Murasaki: I understand that our development teams take pride in the belief that AI cannot create the kinds of worlds they can.
Users are highly sensitive to the difference between works imbued with the spirit of their creators and AI-generated content, so this policy makes a great deal of sense to me. The Group has many sincere, passionate people who deeply love our products, and I believe the power of this human capital is nothing less than our most valuable management resource
That doesn’t mean SEGA Sammy is abandoning AI altogether.
In his own message within the report, Satomi explains that the Group is actively exploring AI for development support, operational efficiency and data-driven marketing, while making careful decisions about its use in creative work.
The company’s Group CIO, Takaharu Kato, also reveals that nearly all SEGA Sammy Group employees in Japan now use generative AI, with internal guidelines covering copyright verification, data protection and compliance with regulations in different countries.
The distinction is between using AI to assist employees and allowing it to take over the creative work itself.
SEGA had already expressed a similar position in October, when senior executive Tsuyoshi Saito told Nikkei that the company was being particularly cautious about generative AI in game development and would not entrust the creative aspects of its games to the technology.
For Sonic fans, the report also adds important context to Sonic City’s earlier coverage of Morio Kishimoto. Back in June, the Sonic Frontiers director appeared to signal his opposition to generative AI in Sonic games by liking a fan’s social media post.
Now, the position has been documented at the SEGA Sammy leadership level, although the report does not establish which individual development tasks fall within its creative-work restriction or independently verify the production methods used for specific Sonic projects.
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