GTA 6 Has Zero Generative AI: Take-Two CEO Confirms Handcrafted World

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick recently had an interview with GamesIndustry.biz and, of course, the topic of AI came up and its role, if any, in the upcoming GTA 6. Zelnick shut down the idea quickly, saying that the entire state of Leonida, was entirely handcrafted, though he did add that GenAI-powered tools are being used across Take-Two studios to “drive costs and time efficiencies.”

"Do I think tools by themselves create great entertainment properties? No, there's no evidence that that's the case and it won't be the case in the future. Specifically with regards to Grand Theft Auto 6, GenAI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building. Their worlds are handcrafted. That's what differentiates them. They're built from the ground up, building by building, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. They're not procedurally generated, they shouldn't be. That's what makes great entertainment."

Zelnick has not shied away from the AI conversation in gaming, and while he remains adamant that AI alone cannot create meaningful interactive worlds. He has been on record recently saying AI-powered game characters might be trained on human scripts to then allow more natural conversation.

"Historically, we had to script every single action that a character engaged in, and because it is interactive, think about how much scripting that is. Now, we're always going to need great writers, and we always will have plenty of scripting, but characters should be able to be trained on that very scripting that has been created by great writers and then interact in a way that feels more natural."

GTA 6 appears to be on track, this time, for its planned November 19th release. As during a quarterly earnings call, the Take-Two CEO confirmed a marketing campaign is set to kick off this summer.

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