Overview
- Esquire Singapore, which published the feature in March 2026, said it fed Mackenyu’s past quotes into AI tools Claude and Copilot and then edited the output by humans after he did not reply to email outreach.
- The transcript presented new answers as if from the actor and included machine tells like “(laughs)” that signaled it was not a real conversation.
- The piece also generated responses about sensitive personal topics, including remarks about his late father Sonny Chiba, which critics called inappropriate.
- Fans on X questioned whether the article had Mackenyu’s consent, and outlets like Kotaku, PC Gamer, and Aftermath highlighted the disclosure and denounced the approach.
- There is no public indication of a retraction or the actor’s approval as attention to the article grew in early April, underscoring broader worries about AI producing plausible but unverified speech.