Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games’ owner, is laying off its head of AI and the majority of its AI department following an apparent cost-cutting initiative, months after its chief executive doubled down on generative technologies.
As per Dexerto, it was Lucke Dicken, the AI department chief in question, who broke the news via a LinkedIn post last night. “It’s truly disappointing that I have to share with you that my time with T2—and that of my team—has come to an end,” Dicken wrote.
According to Dicken, people working in “procedural content for games,” “machine learning,” and other, more technical AI-adjacent technologies were affected by the layoff. Though he doesn’t clearly state how many people were let go from the company, it seems to have been the entire AI department, or at least the majority of its staff.
Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick was a huge proponent of generative AI prior to these layoffs. He expressed his full support for the technology a few months ago, particularly praising its potential to “reduce costs” and increase workplace efficiency. Now, it seems the tables have turned. It could be that Take-Two gave its sincere attention to AI and found that, instead of reducing headaches, it induced them and wasn’t worth the trouble in the long run.
That’s pure speculation, though, but I’m fairly certain that this AI department was very expensive to maintain and develop, especially considering the current state of the tech landscape. AI companies are now scrambling to find more funding and use cases and are becoming a lot more liable than ever before, which could be driving their corporate users to reconsider if and how they’ll utilize these novel solutions.
