Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick isn’t buying into the idea that artificial intelligence will soon start making blockbuster games. Speaking with CNBC, the executive made it clear that while AI has its uses, creating something like Grand Theft Auto VI is well beyond its reach.
Zelnick broke down his reasoning into two big points. The first is intellectual property. Take-Two, he said, is deeply protective of its creative assets — and once generative AI gets involved, defending ownership and copyright becomes a legal nightmare. “If a neural network starts building your world, who really owns it?” he asked rhetorically.
His second argument digs even deeper. Even without the legal red tape, AI just isn’t creative. It can remix, reformat, and reassemble existing ideas, but it doesn’t invent.
“Our teams’ creativity is absolutely extraordinary,” Zelnick said. “What Rockstar strives for — and consistently achieves — is to create something close to perfection. AI, by definition, can’t do that, because it’s built on what’s already been done.”
When the conversation turned to the price of GTA VI, Zelnick kept things vague, sidestepping any confirmation of the swirling $100 rumors. Instead, he emphasized Rockstar’s philosophy: whatever the price tag ends up being, the studio’s mission is to give players an experience that’s worth far more than what they paid for.
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