Is HoYoverse Using AI? Where It Shows Up in the Games and Where It Does Not
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Yes. is hoyoverse using ai is one of the most debated questions in gaming right now, and the honest answer is yes, in specific and confirmed places. HoYoverse, the global brand of Chinese developer miHoYo, has talked openly about some of that use in interviews.
Other parts of the story are less clear. Claims about AI voices and AI art sit in a grey zone of allegations, lawsuits and fan investigations, and the confirmed facts are often narrower than the headlines.
At AI Holic, we track how companies actually use AI. This guide sticks to what HoYoverse and named sources have put on the record, and labels everything else as alleged.
The Short Answer
HoYoverse uses AI today in three confirmed ways. It polishes character faces and behavior in Honkai: Star Rail, it is building AI driven NPCs for its next life sim Petit Planet, and it is spending heavily on its own AI systems behind the scenes.
What is not confirmed matters just as much. The company has said its game stories are not AI written, and there is no confirmed case of a shipped Genshin Impact character being drawn by AI.
The rest of this guide walks through each area in turn. The money, the voice dispute and the court case all sit around the same simple question.
What AI Does in Honkai: Star Rail
The clearest on the record example comes from Honkai: Star Rail. In an interview reported by IGN and covered by Inquirer Technology, the developers said they integrated AI to improve the facial appearance and behavioral patterns of characters.
The team framed the scale honestly. They called the current use a cherry on top, a supplement to hand made work rather than a way of building the game from the ground up.
They also drew a line. At the time of that interview, the studio said it had not used AI to generate narrative content, and a development team of more than 500 people still built the game.
Petit Planet and the AI NPC Test
The next step is bigger. Petit Planet, HoYoverse’s upcoming life simulation game, is set to use AI powered NPCs that can hold unscripted conversations with players.
Coverage of the announcement describes villagers that react to player choices and surroundings, changing their routines and responses on the fly. A generative help assistant is also planned inside the game.
That makes Petit Planet the public test bed for the company’s long term goal. If AI characters work there, the same systems can spread to bigger titles later.
The $14.6 Billion Plan to Build Its Own AI
In May 2026, HoYoverse set out the scale of its ambitions. Reports from a technology and recruitment session in Beijing say the company plans to invest 100 billion yuan in AI over three years, a figure English coverage puts at about $14.6 billion.
The plan is to build everything in house. That means its own GPU clusters, its own training systems and its own application architecture, instead of licensing models from outside providers.
Co-founder Liu Wei described the target as meaningful AI. The company wants agents that can read context, such as codebases and conversation logs, and act on it directly, across automation, NPC systems and live game content.
Behind the spending sits a longer goal. Co-founder Cai Haoyu has previously set out an ambition to build a virtual world for one billion people by 2030, and AI characters are a core part of that idea.
The Voice Actor Controversy
The most heated dispute is about voices. Reporting by Toolify described allegations that HoYoverse used recordings of its voice actors to train AI models.
Two English voice actors spoke publicly. Kyle McCarley raised the concern, and Mick Wingert, the voice of Dottore, said he felt betrayed by the possibility.
Two things are worth keeping straight. These are allegations, not proven findings, and HoYoverse has separately disclosed AI generated voices in some video descriptions, which is a different and openly labeled use.
The Lawsuit HoYoverse Won Over Cloned Voices
A separate story is often mixed into the same debate. In 2025, HoYoverse found a third party app selling voice packs that made users sound like Genshin Impact characters.
The operator admitted training its model on Genshin Impact audio without permission, using about a minute of character audio mixed with other samples. A voiceprint assessment found the output could be identified as the original characters.
The Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court ruled for HoYoverse. It ordered the operator to stop and pay 750,000 yuan in damages, about $105,000, and coverage described it as Shanghai’s first unfair competition ruling on AI voice imitation.
The distinction matters for the is hoyoverse using ai debate. This case was HoYoverse stopping someone else from cloning its characters, not HoYoverse cloning anyone.
What Is Still Only Rumor
Fans regularly accuse new art, voices and events of being AI made. Some accusations later turn out to be wrong, and HoYoverse rarely comments on individual claims, which keeps the rumor cycle running.
The confirmed list, as of this writing, stays short. AI presentation polish in Star Rail, AI NPCs planned for Petit Planet, disclosed AI voices in some videos, and a very large internal AI build out.
Everything beyond that list should be treated as unproven until HoYoverse or a court puts it on the record. That includes claims about AI written story content in Genshin Impact or Zenless Zone Zero.
This story sits in our AI News & Trends coverage. For the tools side of gaming AI, see our AI for Design & Gaming guides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Genshin Impact made with AI?
No confirmed reporting says so. The confirmed AI use is in Honkai: Star Rail’s character presentation, while Genshin Impact is the game at the center of the voice cloning lawsuit, where HoYoverse was the plaintiff.
Does HoYoverse use AI voice actors?
It has disclosed AI generated voices in some video content. The stronger claim, that it trained AI on its game voice actors without consent, remains an allegation raised by actors and fan coverage, not a settled finding.
Why is HoYoverse investing so much in AI?
The company wants its own models and infrastructure rather than rented ones. Its stated aims include smarter NPCs, development automation and, longer term, a virtual world built for one billion users by 2030.
Which HoYoverse game uses AI NPCs?
Petit Planet, the upcoming life sim, is the announced test case. Its NPCs are designed to hold unscripted conversations and react to player choices, unlike the fixed dialogue trees in Genshin Impact.
Did HoYoverse sue over AI voices?
Yes, and it won. A Shanghai court ordered an app operator that cloned 63 Genshin Impact character voices to stop and pay 750,000 yuan, about $105,000, in damages.
Conclusion
So, is hoyoverse using ai? Yes, openly in narrow places, and heavily behind the scenes. The games are still built and written by people, while the company spends billions so future characters can talk, react and remember. Watch Petit Planet for the first real test.
