Take-Two CEO Says AI Will Not "Make It Easier to Create Hits"

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has recently expressed his enthusiasm for the rise of AI technology, although he emphasized that he doesn't believe that advancements in AI will simplify the process of creating successful hits.

Zelnick made these remarks during a recent earnings call (via PC Gamer) when he was questioned about the potential impact of AI on the company's game development efforts.

"As you know I'm usually a skeptic when others engage in hyperbole, [but] in the case of AI I'm pretty enthusiastic," Zelnick said. "First of all despite the fact artificial intelligence is an oxymoron, as is machine learning, this company's been involved in those activities, no matter what words you use to describe them, for its entire history and we're a leader in that space."

He further added that recent AI advancements are "exciting" for Take-Two, although they are not "surprising" to them as they believe that AI will enable them to "do a better job and to do a more efficient job."

"You're talking about tools, and they are simply better and more effective tools," he said.

Yet, Zelnick stressed that it takes "genius" to "create hits" and asserted that the realm of "genius" belongs exclusively to human beings.

"I wish I could say that the advances in AI will make it easier to create hits, obviously it won't," Zelnick explained. "Hits are created by genius. And data sets plus compute plus large language models does not equal genius. Genius is the domain of human beings, and I believe will stay that way."

These comments come in the wake of reports about other developers and publishers delving into AI technology. For instance, Ubisoft recently stated that its "creators and developers of all levels" are experimenting with AI technology. And prior to that, the company attracted attention by unveiling its AI tool called Ghostwriter developed to assist its writers in crafting dialogue for a game's NPCs.

Zelnick also gained attention recently for stating that Take-Two hasn't seen a significant "pushback" from consumers regarding the pricing of its games at $70. 

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