Bereft of his signature mask – which he will not be photographed without – and perched awkwardly on a folding chair, video game director Yoko Taro has the air of a dishevelled monk. The famously camera shy developer behind cult hit games like Drakengard 3 and last year's Nier: Automata listens attentively as questions and answers are rapidly translated. "To be honest, I think I am making normal games targeted towards normal people," he says. "But ultimately when I release those normal games, weird people find them to be weird games and enjoy them. Which probably means there's something wrong with me."

Mindfire, a new foundation with the goal of "decoding the mind" to help develop true artificial intelligence (AI) is launching November 17th in Zurich, Switzerland. Futurism spoke with the founder of Starmind and president of the foundation, Pascal Kaufmann to learn more about its goals and the path to reach them. "We cannot achieve True AI until we understand actual intelligence. Intelligence has evolved as a means of nature to successfully guide us through an ever-changing environment. This gave rise to behavior, emotions, and consciousness. These critical factors must be taken into account in how we develop AI. This is the purpose of the Mindfire Foundation," he explains.

In 2014, game designer Yoko Taro gave a talk about the creative process behind his cult PlayStation 3 title Nier: Replicant. He called the talk "Weird Games for Weird People". That is the best possible description of what he makes. Taro is famous for the eccentric persona he presents to the world. He rarely shows his face in public or interviews, preferring to talk from behind a sock puppet or the eerie wide grin of a mask.