Esquire Singapore faces backlash after publishing AI-generated ‘interview’ with Mackenyu
After failing to secure time with Japanese-American actor Mackenyu, Esquire Singapore has come under fire for publishing what it described as a “deliberate creative decision”: an AI-generated ‘interview’ with the One Piece star.
The piece, titled Mackenyu in Resonance, was published on 6 March.
While it initially flew under the radar, the article has since drawn mounting criticism online, with netizens expressing confusion and anger over the approach.
Some have even called for Mackenyu to pursue legal action.
Source: Reddit
Magazine turns to AI to create feature
According to the article, the team had hoped to interview Mackenyu but were unable to do so due to scheduling constraints.
Source: @mackenyu on Instagram
They then attempted to reach him via email, but received no response. With deadlines looming and a feature needed to accompany their photos, the team said they “had to be inventive”.
Instead, they fed Mackenyu’s past interviews into AI tools like Claude and Copilot, generating responses to their own questions in his voice.
“Are these the words we expect from Mackenyu? Or are they just replies from an echo chamber of celebrity-hood that we want to believe is from him?” the author wrote, before presenting the AI-generated answers.
Criticism builds as article gains traction
For weeks, the piece drew little attention. Early comments on Esquire Singapore’s Instagram post largely focused on Mackenyu’s photos rather than the article itself.
That changed in early April, when the story began circulating more widely.
On 3 April, gaming and entertainment outlets Kotaku and The Gamer published critiques of the piece, calling out the ethics of presenting AI-generated responses as an interview.
Kotaku took particular issue with a section where the AI-generated “Mackenyu” spoke about living up to his late father, action legend Sonny Chiba.
Maybe you shouldn’t have published the bit where AI Mackenyu talks about the pressures of living up to his deceased father, the legendary action star Sonny Chiba, and how it wants ‘to make him proud,’ because that’s incredibly f***ed up.
Esquire Singapore has since removed that portion of the article, noting the change in an addendum.
The Gamer, while acknowledging the pressures of tight editorial timelines, was similarly critical.
I’m not going to pretend I don’t know what it’s like to have plans altered at the last minute . . . But this is not the solution.
The controversy gained further traction after YouTuber MoistCr1TiKaL shared the story with his nearly 18 million subscribers. Since being posted on 8 April, the video has amassed over 1.1 million views.
Source: YouTube
Across platforms like Reddit and YouTube, commenters have largely condemned the move, questioning both its ethics and editorial integrity.
Source: Reddit
Esquire Singapore says AI use was intentional
In response to the backlash, Esquire Singapore told CNA Lifestyle that the use of AI was a “deliberate creative decision” tied to the theme of its March issue, Echoes.
The publication explained that while Mackenyu was available for a photo shoot, his schedule prevented him from completing the interview despite multiple attempts to secure responses.
As a result, the team said they pivoted their approach, using AI to explore the idea of a celebrity “echo”, essentially recreating “a persona in the digital age in the absence of the physical subject”.
They added that the experimental format was disclosed in the article, and was intended to examine the intersection of celebrity and technology.
Esquire Singapore also acknowledged the strong reactions the piece has generated, saying it appreciates the ongoing discussion and will take the feedback into account moving forward.
So far, Mackenyu has not publicly responded to the article. MS News also reached out to Esquire Singapore for comment but did not receive a response at the time of writing.
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Featured image adapted from @mackenyu on Instagram and Esquire Singapore.
