An advert from Nintendo showcasing new Super Mario products has sparked a debate on whether artificial intelligence was used in creating it, forcing the company to deny the claims.
The major Japanese behemoth, behind the likes of iconic franchises including Pokémon, Mario and The Legend of Zelda, shared a post to X on January 8 advertising new products for younger fans.
It wrote: “Introducing My Mario, a collection of products, games, and experiences inspired by Mario and his Mushroom Kingdom friends, designed for young children and their parents.”
A series of photos alongside the post showed parents with their young children as they played with Mario-themed building blocks, computer games and plush toys. The post has received over 2.2 million views.
But a conversation quickly grew under the post, as commenters pointed out how one woman was holding a Mario plush toy, and claimed the way her thumb appeared in the photo suggested it was made with generative AI.
“AI thumb,” one user wrote, as another said: “Oh look Nintendo’s getting into the AI game,” and one complained: “Garbage AI images. I’m not even going to give a thumbs up after that.”
Others defended Nintendo, with user @SILENTPRINCESS reposting the advert and writing: “To everyone concerned, this isn’t AI generated, the thumbs can just do that sometimes lol.”
The user pointed out a comment left under the advert posted to Instagram, in which a woman purporting to be one of the models in the advert wrote: “As one of the models, I can promise you this is not AI guys.”
Another user claimed one of the models was a friend of theirs, and said it was “definitely NOT AI lol.”
Newsweek has contacted Nintendo for comment on this story.
Model Brittoni O’myah Sinclair, who appeared in one of the images used in the advert, told IGN that the photoshoot was “real.”
“All the models were casted, and most of us worked with our real families. We had to do auditions, and call-backs to book this job,” Sinclair said.
IGN reports that while Sinclair is not the model whose thumb prompted the speculation on AI, she saw that model at the shoot, and they were a real person. IGN added that a Nintendo spokesperson also confirmed to it that no AI was used in any of the images.
But as one X user pointed out under the @SILENTPRINCESS post: “[Whether] it is or isn’t AI is not the point. The fact that most can’t tell either way is the point. This is a tipping point that says we all should question everything viewed on the internet from here onward.”
Generative AI has exploded in popularity in recent years, and the market is predicted to reach $91.57 billion in 2026, and a whopping $400 billion by 2031, according to data from Statista.
Programs can be used to create art, music and other forms of creative content, which has caused issues among creative communities that human artists risk being pushed out.
In 2025, “Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust was the number one song on Billboard‘s Country Digital Song Sales chart—and was AI generated.