Take Two comments on Grand Theft Auto 7 and Rockstar using AI to make it

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is already discussing future installments in the Grand Theft Auto franchise and how artificial intelligence will play a role in development.

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One of the hottest topics in the gaming industry is how developers will adopt artificial intelligence into their workflow, and if the power of AI will be used as a tool to speed up game development without compromising the end product, and ultimately, making thousands of game developers obsolete in the process. In a recent interview with CNBC, the CEO of Grand Theft Auto's publisher, Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick, was asked if AI would play a role in the development of titles under Take-Two's banner.

Zelnick said that while he isn't a "naysayer" when it comes to integrating AI into video game development, he remains skeptical about its use, for several reasons. The first being intellectual property rights, and how creating any IP with AI automatically makes it unprotected. This point echoes a popular ongoing debate between AI companies, Hollywood, musicians, and other creative industries, as many AI models have gained the ability to create "unique" content by absorbing intellectual property.

• Read more: Grand Theft Auto VI publisher comments on how it will use AI to make games
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"We have to protect our intellectual property, but more than that, we have to be mindful of others. If you create intellectual property with AI, it's not protectable," Strauss told CNBC's Steve Kovach in an interview at the CNBC event

As for Grand Theft Auto 7 and future Grand Theft Auto titles, Zelnick said he doesn't believe Take-Two could "push a button" and have AI create the marketing plan for the next Grand Theft Auto game, as AI is inherently "backwards-looking". Zelnick is referring to AI being comprised of data sets of old information, meaning AI isn't good at generating something creatively new, which is what Take-Two strives to do with each of its titles.

"Let's say there were no constraints [on AI]. Could we push a button tomorrow and create an equivalent to the 'Grand Theft Auto' marketing plan?" he said. "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."

"Anything that involves backward-looking data compute, it's really good for that and that applies to lots of things," he said. "What we do at Take-Two, anything that isn't attached to that, it's going to be really, really bad at."

"The team's creativity is extraordinary, and what [Take-Two subsidiary] Rockstar Games tries to do, and so far has done over and over again, is create something that approaches perfection," he said. "There is no creativity that can exist by definition in any AI model, because it is data-driven," Strauss added