Take-Two CEO Skeptical of AI's Revolutionary Impact on Game Development

Grand Theft Auto VI publisher comments on how it will use AI to make games

TL;DR: Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick expressed skepticism about AI's revolutionary impact on the gaming industry, stating it won't necessarily make development cheaper, quicker, or better. However, he acknowledged AI's potential to handle mundane tasks, allowing developers more time for creativity. The CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of some of the biggest gaming franchises on the market, such as Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands, has given his two cents on how AI will be implemented across the company's developers. According to a recent interview with CNBC, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick revealed that he isn't too convinced about how revolutionary AI is for the gaming industry. Zelnick says that he doesn't believe artificial intelligence will suddenly make development cheaper, quicker, better, or even improve the chances of hit games being released. Zelnick told the publication that Take-Two will remain realistic about how it will implement AI into its development pipeline. Despite the sobering stance of believing AI is a tool and not the thing that is going to suddenly replace all developers, Zelnick does recognize its potential in freeing up a developer's time as the AI will be able to perform mundane tasks the developer otherwise would have had to do. Zelnick says AI will enable Take-Two's creative people to have less mundane tasks on their plate, allowing them more time to do what they do best - be creative. "In terms of AI, the interactive entertainment business has been into AI forever," said Zelnick. "Let me just remind you, AI stands for 'artificial intelligence,' which is an oxymoron, there is no such thing." "I would love to say that [AI is] going to make things cheaper, quicker, better, or easier to make hits," he says. "I don't think that's the case." "What [AI] means is that our creative people will be able to do fewer mundane tasks and turn their attention to the really creative tasks," Zelnick continued. "The machines can't make the creative decisions for you."

CEO of Grand Theft Auto Publisher Slams AI Hype in Gaming Industry

As the gaming industry is besieged by cruel layoffs and threats to employment like stilted AI-generated voice acting, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive -- the publisher of massive titles including Grand Theft Auto -- Strauss Zelnick says he's not quite convinced about AI. "In terms of AI, the interactive entertainment business has been into AI forever," Zelnick said in a new interview with CNBC. "Let me just remind you, AI stands for 'artificial intelligence,' which is an oxymoron, there is no such thing." Zelnick's remarks, while framed in a circumspect way, come as cold water at a moment when many C-suites are all-in on AI hype -- and because of Take-Two's enormous stature in the space, other execs just might be paying attention. Games have long used rudimentary AI for practical matters, like programming non-playable characters to find and attack the player (albeit often with mixed results.) But the advent of generative AI over the past few years has given game studios new tools to create in-game assets like graphics and models using tech like OpenAI's DALL-E or Recraft. On its face AI is just a new toolset, but it can also result in sloppy finished products and dissent among workers who feel the tech is pushing them out of the industry. Zelnick, however, suggested to CNBC that Take-Two will remain realistic about AI's limitations. "I would love to say that [AI is] going to make things cheaper, quicker, better, or easier to make hits," he says. "I don't think that's the case." But where he landed was a familiar line for tech execs: that instead of replacing human creatives, AI will ultimately just free them up to work on more interesting stuff. "What [AI] means is that our creative people will be able to do fewer mundane tasks and turn their attention to the really creative tasks," Zelnick continued. "The machines can't make the creative decisions for you."

'Grand Theft Auto' Publisher Says AI Won't Help It Make Games Faster

'I would love to say that it’s going to make things cheaper, quicker, better, or easier to make hits. I don’t think that’s the case.' Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive, told CNBC he doesn’t think AI is going to revolutionize how they make video games. “I would love to say that it’s going to make things cheaper, quicker, better, or easier to make hits. I don’t think that’s the case,†Zelnick said. Zelnick appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to talk about his company’s quarterly earnings and the impact of AI. Take-Two is a gaming giant that publishes Grand Theft Auto. GTA V was one of the most successful entertainment products of all time and Zelnick is looking to GTA VI, which releases next year, to replicate that success. It probably will, based on inertia alone. During the interview the hosts asked him how he thought AI might change his business. In a world where tech CEOs constantly crow about how AI will herald an age of untold advancements in efficiency, Zelnick’s answer was shockingly measured. “The interactive entertainment business has been in AI forever. Let me just remind you that AI stands for artificial intelligence. Which is an oxymoron. There is no such thing. It’s just a description of a digital toolset and that digital toolset will affect every part of our lives in the way that, when we got smartphones, it affected every part of our lives,†Zelnick said. Pressed on the issue, Zelnick pushed back on the idea that AI would help anyone make a hit. “All of our tools do help us become more efficientâ€|that said, it’s going to become commoditized. Everyone is going to have access to the same tools. That is the history of toolsets. What it means, though, is our creative people will be able to do fewer mundane tasks and turn their attention to the really creative tasks,†he said. “The machines can’t make the creative decisions for you.†It’s a refreshing thing to hear from a game company CEO. NVIDIA, which sells the GPUs that power a lot of AI products, has promised that advanced LLMs and other AI systems can replace writers. At CES in January, the company demoed an AI bartender in a cyberpunk setting and declared it the future of video games. Reviews of the experience, to be generous, were mixed. Ubisoft is another company going all in on AI. The beleaguered game publisher has a habit of chasing tech trends and making things consumers don’t want. It launched a full blown NFT game a few weeks ago to no fanfare whatsoever. One of its AI pitches is “Ghostwriter AI†which, it says, will write NPC barksâ€"the little bits of noise NPCs make as you pass them in the game worldâ€"and free writers to focus on more intense and creative tasks. Take-Two has had at least one bad high-profile experience with AI. The release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy â€" The Definitive Edition in 2021 was a disaster. The developers used AI upscaling to bring old games to new TVs and the results were awful. The series is known for its over-the-top and crass humor and puns. Often, the upscale-er butchered street signs, billboards, and shop window advertisements and turned them into nonsense. Objects in the world that were intentionally boxy, such as a giant six-sided nut above a donut shot, were smoothed to the point they lost their definition. Take-Two spent months working on the game after its release to fix the problems AI upscaling introduced.

Take-Two CEO believes AI just another toolset for game developers and will not replace humans

In context: The AI boom has had its share of controversy. Whether it's the accuracy of large language models or companies rushing shoddy AI products just to be the first with something, no matter how bad, there are two sides to every issue. The fears over AI replacing human labor are arguably one of the more volatile sub-topics of the continuing AI debate. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick thinks the ongoing AI revolution will not significantly affect the game production industry from an employment or creative standpoint. Although ChatGPT has proven it can write functional game code, Zelnick doesn't think it can improve game design or make the development process exponentially more efficient. "I would love to say that it's going to make things cheaper, quicker, better, or easier to make hits," Zelnick told CNBC in a Squawk Box interview. "I don't think that's the case." He pointed out that Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most successful entertainment products ever released. He says GTA6 is set to continue that legacy, but neither game relied on AI in the sense that we think about it today. Zelnick reminds us that game studios have been in the AI business all along - a lot longer than the current LLM craze - and that will not change. Every game we However, as far as AI taking over coding duties and other aspects of game design, he doesn't see that happening. "The interactive entertainment business has been in AI forever. Let me just remind you that AI stands for artificial intelligence. Which is an oxymoron," the CEO said. "There is no such thing. It's just a description of a digital toolset." He believes AI in gaming will be no different from current toolsets like Blender and Unreal Engine. It will just be another software package that developers can use to help them in their work. It will not lead any company to be more successful than any other because everybody will have access to the same tools. It is still going to be humans who come up with creative ideas that will determine the success of a game. "All of our tools do help us become more efficient ... that said, it's going to become commoditized. Everyone is going to have access to the same tools. That is the history of toolsets. What it means, though, is our creative people will be able to do fewer mundane tasks and turn their attention to the really creative tasks. The machines can't make the creative decisions for you." Nvidia and others do not see it that way and are betting the house that AI will replace humans at specific tasks, including writing and coding. Fable creator Peter Molyneux recently stated that people will soon be able to create a game with a simple, plain language prompt. Modders are already adding AI NPCs to games that will improve as language models evolve. Still, other companies are working on toolsets similar to those Zelnick imagines. I would argue that the games industry has lacked true creativity for several years. I offer all the rehashed, remixed, remastered, and remade games we've had to stomach over the last several years. Maybe AI could do better. It certainly can't do worse at this point. Your thoughts?