Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has again shared an entirely measured take on the use of AI in game development, doubling down on a belief in human creativity. He’s laughed at the notion that AI can create games on its own, and that it’s anything other than a tool to aid human productivity.
While it shouldn’t be newsworthy, Zelnick has swiftly become a reasonable voice in the conversation around generative AI use in games, if only in contrast to the voices of many other games industry leaders, who have evangelised the technology in recent years.
Take-Two CEO on AI in games – quick links
Take-Two CEO outlines his belief in AI capability
Speaking to The Game Business, Zelnick described developments in AI as a good thing overall, but likened new tools like generative AI to simple extensions of existing technology, like Google Search.
‘Could you use AI tools more quickly to storyboard? Or to help you tease out plot points? Or tease out alternatives? Sure,’ Zelnick said. ‘Because these tools are based on massive data sets that are searchable and translatable into natural language. And that’s just more effective than the tools we’ve had before, like doing an internet search. But ultimately, it’s the same thing.’
Zelnick went on to claim that ‘no one ever added value with a PowerPoint presentation,’ despite ‘lots of them [being] made all the time,’ which is an entirely funny statement, and a refreshing perspective, from someone in such a high profile leadership position.
As CEO of Take-Two, Zelnick oversees the operations of multiple game studios, including Rockstar Games (GTA 6), Zynga and 2K. It’s fair to say Zelnick is privy to PowerPoint presentations on a frequent basis.
Google’s Project Genie is only an experiment
As The Game Business outlines, much of the conversation with Zelnick was inspired by the recent launch of Google’s Project Genie, an AI tool that claims to allow users to generate entire game worlds using simple text prompts.
Zelnick found the idea of AI creating games on its own, without the input of human creativity and development talent, to be laughable, and said as much.
‘I think the bear case for big entertainment companies is somehow that AI tools will mean everyone can create hits, but that doesn’t stand to reason,’ he said.
‘These tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits. There are loads of assets out there now. It doesn’t matter if you push a button to create an asset, or it takes you six weeks, at the end of the day, you have an asset. And thousands of mobile games are launched every year, and there are only a handful of hits.’
Zelnick claimed that while AI may help a company like Take-Two, 2K or Rockstar Games create a new title, the actual hit-making is down to humans, and AI will never replace the expertise, insight and skills required to make games happen.
‘What we get paid for is making the best entertainment on earth and that requires all kinds of things that technology cannot, and will never, do on its own,’ Zelnick said.
‘The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit and bring it to many millions of consumers around the world, it’s a laughable notion. It’s just never been the case with entertainment.’
Zelnick specifically pointed to AI-generated music as an example, pointing out that while it may make for a good gimmick, it likely won’t be listened to more than once.
In a more optimistic tone, Zelnick claimed that new technology has always aided entertainment, rather than replaced it. While he acknowledged that AI does have an impact on development, and could still be used in future Take-Two games, he also confirmed a belief that humans will always remain part of the equation.
