GTA 6 publisher predicts AI won’t put developers out of work
Artificial intelligence and its use in game development has become a hot topic in the industry, causing many creatives to worry about their jobs, gamers to worry about the loss of humanity in games and some executives to be excited about the potential for faster and cheaper production.
Take-Two, parent company of Rockstar Games (developers of GTA 6) and publisher 2K, will likely implement this technology regardless of opinion. During an interview at TD Cowen’s 52nd annual technology, media and telecommunications conference last week, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said generative AI could allow the company’s developers to “do a lot of things more efficiently… and we’ll shift our “focus on other areas that are also likely to be costly and time-consuming.”
Comments about increased efficiency may not inspire hope among developers, since such language is often used by managers when announcing layoffs, emphasizing productivity. Take-Two itself recently announced nearly 600 layoffs after saying it had “no current plans” to cut staff, and then shuttered the teams behind Olli Olli World and Kerbal Space Program 2.
Despite these concerns, Zelnick continues to argue that AI will not harm employment.
I also don’t think generative AI will eliminate jobs, that’s crazy. It’s really crazy. It will not make people unnecessary. It will change the nature of certain forms of employment, and that’s a good thing.”
Exactly how the technology will change the nature of the industry has remained a mystery, especially since most forms of generative AI use pre-existing data to create sounds, images or texts at the user’s request. However, AI can definitely replace some of the lawyers and managers at various levels who act as a layer in the work process.
Additionally, there are already examples of how AI can and is already impacting jobs. Only time will tell what the long-term effect will be, although even veterans like Hideo Kojima and Cyberpunk 2077’s lead mission designer see AI as the future.