It’s a bit of a time for AI and games at the moment, ‘ey? A bad time, obviously, as it’s infecting everything from game development, to the modding community, to native PC ports of a remake of a very popular game that I won’t link to for fear of a certain company finding out where I live and ending me there and then. And of course, the latter may be a concern for one Rockstar Games and the impending release of GTA 6. But according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, game’s publisher, they are currently technically and legally preparing themselves.
IGN recently spoke to Zelnick regarding potential AI cloning concerns, notably about any business issues they may face as a result. “I don’t think it’s a financial matter, in terms of a threat to our business,” Zelnick explained. “I do think it’s a creative matter. It’s important to everyone, our developers and our consumers alike, to deliver the experience Rockstar envisions. And at the same time, of course, we protect our intellectual property vigilantly. So we are focused on these concerns. We’re not in the least cavalier about them. Technology is advancing quickly. And at the same time, I do think that pretty much everyone wants the Rockstar experience as Rockstar intended.”
Zelnick also made a comment about thinking “all companies should be protecting intellectual property, their own and everyone else’s,” in response to a question about whether he wants to see OpenAI follow in Claude’s footsteps by limiting the potential for genAI clones. “If you’re in the intellectual property business, which Anthropic is and OpenAI is, then it seems ironic on the one hand to stomp on someone else’s IP and hope that yours is protected,” he said.
It was during an investor Q&A where Zelnick dug into the precautions Take-Two are take-twoing in regards to the growing threat of AI. “[Piracy is] going to become more of a challenge… and we’re aware of that. So we are utterly focused on enhancing our technical defenses and enhancing our legal activities appropriately. And at the same time, without in any way being cavalier, every entertainment business that exists is subject to some element of piracy. So this is likely to invade our business to a greater or lesser extent. I think it will be manageable and we are focused on it.”
Essentially: unless you want to face the wrath of the kinds of lawyers multi-billion dollar companies can afford, I wouldn’t bother trying to clone GTA 6 with AI! Probably won’t end well!
