As GTA 6 moves toward its November 19 release date, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is trying to draw a line between the company’s use of artificial intelligence and the fears surrounding it.
Speaking at Semafor’s World Economy 2026 event, Zelnick said the panic over AI replacing creative workers has gotten out of hand—even as Take-Two continues to distance GTA 6 itself from generative AI.
“I think people spend too much time talking about the ‘woe is me’ risk related to AI,” Zelnick said, around the 33-minute mark.
He acknowledged that the technology “can be used for evil purposes,” but argued that it is ultimately another tool that game studios will adopt: “Technology has been a great thing for humanity, and I don’t think this will be any different.”
The comments arrive just weeks after Take-Two reportedly cut its head of AI, Luke Dicken, along with several other employees tied to the company’s artificial intelligence initiatives. The layoffs raised questions about whether Take-Two was backing away from AI entirely. Instead, Zelnick says the company is changing where and how it uses the technology.
For GTA 6, that means keeping AI away from the game’s creative core. Zelnick has repeatedly said that “generative AI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building,” emphasizing that Rockstar’s version of Leonida and Vice City is being crafted “building by building, street by street.”
He has also pushed back against claims that AI could one day make a game on the scale of GTA 6, calling that idea “laughable.”
At the same time, Take-Two is not abandoning AI behind the scenes. Zelnick said the company has “hundreds of pilots and implementations” already running across its business, with the goal of helping developers move through repetitive tasks faster.
“Everything we create is created in computers using tools,” he said. “New tools are really, really exciting for our business.”
He compared AI to earlier advances in game development, noting that artists once had to manually create basic elements like grass. Today, those same processes are automated, allowing teams to focus on more detailed work.
“They don’t care about lawns anymore,” Zelnick said of modern artists. “They care about, ‘Oh my god, this incredible creature.’”
Zelnick also rejected the idea that AI will erase jobs across the industry. Referencing Elon Musk, Zelnick argued that even the people investing heavily in AI continue to work more than ever.
“If AI were going to take anyone’s job,” he asked rhetorically, “wouldn’t it take his?”
