Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu: "I've never used AI, and probably never will"

In an interview with the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers magazine, Final Fantasy’s legendary composer, Nobuo Uematsu, has firmly voiced his disinterest in using generative AI in his music creation workflow, stating that the true reward of composition lies in the personal effort and hurdles involved.

Uematsu, 65 years old, has composed music for the first nine mainline Final Fantasy games from 1987 to 2000. He recently returned, to recreate the main themes for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, back in 2020. In the interview, Uematsu stated that he has “never used it, and probably never will,” referring to AI tools.

He further explained that the satisfaction that comes from music stems from overcoming the creative obstacles linked to the craft, stating, “I think there’s more satisfaction in something you’ve created yourself after some effort and struggle.”

Uematsu also mentioned how listeners connect with the human element behind the music, and how they connect with the composer, qualities that he believes AI inherently lacks, as it produces work without personal history or emotional depth.

He further added that the “unstable and unique” fluctuations produced by humans when performing existing pieces add to the enjoyment of music, something AI can’t replicate.

While discussing the evolution of music in video games, Uematsu explained that while every generation of video games sees leaps in graphical fidelity, the journey to overhaul audio was pretty much completed by the time developers were able to add studio-recorded sounds directly to a game.

Uematsu elaborated, “Beyond that, it’s probably spatial audio. Final Fantasy X already implemented the idea of spatial audio itself, but the question is how much users will demand it going forward. Another aspect is how smoothly the music that’s being played can be transitioned. That’s an era where AI might handle things well in the future.”

Metal Gear Solid’s creator and Kojima Productions director, Hideo Kojima, also recently shared his views on AI as a collaborative “friend” for game development. However, he did emphasize that he would lead the creative part, similar to Nobuo Uematsu’s views on composing music.

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