Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is not worried about the looming threat of AI.
During a March 17 appearance on The Game Business Show, Zelnick, whose company has published popular video games, such as Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, and Sid Meier's Civilization, said he doesn't see AI as a threat to the game world. Instead, he said that "creation tools are beneficial for our industry."
"I think the bear case for big entertainment companies is somehow that AI tools will mean everyone can create hits, doesn’t stand to reason," he said.
"These tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits. There are loads of assets out there now," he continued. "It doesn’t matter if you push a button to create an asset, or it takes you six weeks, at the end of the day, you have an asset. And thousands of mobile games are launched every year, and there are a handful of hits."
Though Zelnick said that someone can use AI to create quality assets "that might look like NBA 2K," he explained that a specific level of "human engagement" and "creativity" is needed if someone wants to ever create anything similar to his games.
When asked if AI can level the playing field for smaller companies in the video game industry, Zelnick said, "not in the littlest bit."
"There's already plenty of technology out there that allows people to create video games, and as a result, thousands of video games are created every year, and yet the hits all cluster among the large entertainment companies, almost entirely," he said.
"The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit, and market a hit, and bring it to many millions of consumers around the world, it’s a laughable notion," he added. "It’s just never been the case with entertainment."
Zelnick then talked about AI-generated music and said he doubts that a program will ever replace a really good singer.
"Right now, there are programs that allow you to put out a prompt and get a professionally recorded song spit back out at you," he said. "It sounds like a song, but I defy you to listen to it more than once."
Zelnick's comments come after his company's stock prices took a hit earlier this year. According to Reuters, shares of video game companies fell sharply when Google unveiled a new look at Project Genie, its generative AI tool that helps users create an explorable online world with text prompts.
On YouTube, people said they agreed with Zelnick's thoughts on AI.
"A very wise CEO," someone said.
Another added, "If it were as easy as pushing a button, then everyone would push the button, and games wouldn't be special anymore."
A third wrote, "Great interview!"
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