AI vs GTA

AI is a hot topic within the video game industry and CEO of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, spoke out about how AI would not be able to make a very good Grand Theft Auto game at the CNBC’s Technology Executive Council Summit just yesterday in New York.

Zelnick went on to say that using AI to create intellectual property creates issues not only with protecting one's own but also with respecting other's properties. AI wouldn’t be possible to create a good Grand Theft Auto game with its current state in technology.

"Could we push a button tomorrow and create an equivalent to the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ marketing plan? The answer is no. A, you can’t do that yet, and B, I am of the view that you wouldn’t end up with anything very good. You end up with something pretty derivative," Zelnick said.

It’s the lack of creativity which is inherent to all AI models. AI collects data based on sets of old information which can work well in certain fields, but not when it comes to the "multi-layered universes that Take-Two’s video games have become known for," Zelnick states.

"The team’s creativity is extraordinary, and what Rockstar Games tries to do, and so far has done over and over again, is create something that approaches perfection. There is no creativity that can exist by definition in any AI model, because it is data-driven,” lastly states Zelnick.

I’m not sure the industry would agree wholeheartedly with Zelnick. As of most recently, Krafton has stated that their company is now an “AI First Company.” moving forward. The mastermind behind such franchises as Metal Gear and Death Stranding look towards AI as a tool to help in production of these massive open worlds and would like to make them sustainable in the current state of the industry where making a game can take up to 7 years or more to create. Using AI can help these titles and speed up production and costs that range in the millions of dollars when completing a project.