Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has hit back at Elon Musk’s claims that AI could make Grand Theft Auto 6.
Back in 2023, Musk promised that his new AI studio xAI was going to “make games great again” and last year, he claimed that he will “release a great AI-generated game before the end” of 2026.
At the start of 2026, Musk agreed with a viral X post that said AI would be able to build a version of Grand Theft Auto 6 before Rockstar Games releases the official version in November. “We have text-to-image and text-to-video, so text-to-GTA is the next logical step in generative AI,” added Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney. “You won’t even have to ask. AI will figure what video game you’d like best,” replied Musk.
Now Strauss Zelnick, boss of Grand Theft Auto publishers Take-Two, has weighed in on the speculation. “The notion that new tools would allow an individual to push a button, generate a hit and bring it to millions of consumers around the world is laughable,” he said in an interview with The Game Business Show.
“These [AI] tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits. You can create assets that might look like a big release like NBA 2K or EA Sports FC but creating a hit of that magnitude is a completely different animal and does require human engagement and creativity.
“What we get paid for is making the best entertainment on earth and that requires all kinds of things that technology cannot, and will never, do on its own,” he added.
Back in January, users of Google’s new AI tool Project Genie used it to create short Grand Theft Auto knock-offs which caused Take-Two’s stock price to drop. A few days later, Zelnick confirmed Rockstar Games would not be using any generative AI in the creation of Grand Theft Auto 6. “Their worlds are handcrafted [and] that’s what makes great entertainment.”
In other news, Fortnite has confirmed that the fan-favourite Daft Punk experience will be removed this week – and fans aren’t happy.