Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, has spent years expressing his opinions about AI. Let’s take a quick look at what he’s said.
From May 2023:
I wish I could say that the advances in AI will make it easier to create hits, obviously it won't. Hits are created by genius. And data sets plus compute plus large language models does not equal genius. Genius is the domain of human beings and I believe will stay that way.
From February 2025:
Artificial intelligence is an oxymoron, there's no such thing. Machine learning, machines don't learn. Those are convenient ways to explain to human beings what looks like magic. The bottom line is that these are digital tools and we've used digital tools forever. I have no doubt that what is considered AI today will help make our business more efficient and help us do better work, but it won't reduce employment.
To the contrary, the history of digital technology is that technology increases employment, increases productivity, increases GDP and I think that's what's going to happen with AI. I think the video game business will probably be on the leading, if not bleeding, edge of using AI.
But in terms of the guardrails, if you mean, you know, not infringing on other people's intellectual property by, you know, poaching their LLMs, yeah, we're not going to do that. Moreover, if we did, we couldn't protect that, we wouldn't be able to protect our own IP. So of course, we're mindful of what technology we use to make sure that it respects others' intellectual property and allows us to protect our own. Apart from that, I really can't think of any new guardrails that need to be implemented.
From March 2025:
I’m not worried about AI creating hits, because it’s built on data that already exists. It’s backward-looking. Big hits are forward-looking and therefore need to be created out of thin air. Being the most creative means not just thinking outside the box; it means there is no box.
Hire the best creators and insist they pursue their passions. Encourage them to always try something new and to stay away from derivative and copycat works … in Hollywood it’s common to pitch your product as 'it’s a combination of Spiderman meets Batman meets Back to the Future' … We don’t do that here; we want something that you’ve never seen before.
From October 2025:
The reason [AI] is so extraordinary right now is because what we have is a combination of metadata with a parlor trick; we're all going to get used to it. We're getting really used to it in the same way that if this were 25 years ago and I handed you today's version of Google, you would have been blown away by what it could do for you. But now it's like, 'yeah, I searched again' – this is all very standard, and [AI] will be standard, this is the future of technology.
You have to look at it as a tool set. Our business has been involved with digital tools since its inception. I think we'll probably be able to create a bunch of efficiency, and we're already trying to do that. We're reviewing 200 different opportunities at any given time, but what AI is not going to do—because remember, what AI is, is the combination of big data sets with a bunch of computers within a natural LLM, a large language model. And by definition, a data set is backward-looking, while creativity is forward-looking. To the extent that AI appears to be forward-looking, it is what a predictive model is.
From February 2026:
The video game business, since its inception, was built on the back of machine learning and artificial intelligence. We create our games in computers, with technology, and ever since questions began about generative AI about 18 months ago, I've been incredibly enthusiastic about what the future can bring.
As it happens now, we're actively embracing generative AI. We have hundreds of pilots and implementations across our company, including with our studios, and we are seeing opportunities to drive efficiencies, reduce costs, and create the opportunity to do what digital technology has always allowed, which is, mundane tasks become easier and less relevant, which frees up our creators to do the more interesting tasks of making superb entertainment.
[AI] allows our creators to use digital tools to expand what we do, to make it even more beautiful, and even more engaging, and even more exciting.
Huh, OK! But I thought AI – or the thing we now call AI – was a parlor trick. And I’m not sure video games have been incorporating machine learning (again, at least in the modern sense) for that long. Wonder if anything happened this week that caused Zelnick to start singing, at the very least, a different-sounding take on his favorite tune – like, say, stocks taking a tumble as a result of Google’s dogshit-looking, copyright-infringing Project Genie. Well, I’m sure he’ll never go back on any other part of his word, like his insistence that AI won’t replace people at his company. He would never do something like that.
Recommended
Company With ‘No Current Layoff Plans’ Announces Layoffs - Aftermath
600 people are being laid off, while “several projects in development” have been cancelled
Luke Plunkett
CEO Of Take-Two, Reportedly Closing Two Studios, Denies Closing Two Studios - Aftermath
‘We didn’t shutter those studios’, says man who clearly appears to have shuttered two studios
Luke Plunkett
Fresh Off Closing Two Studios, Take-Two CEO Expresses Excitement About ‘More Sensible’ FTC Under Trump - Aftermath
It was a rough time to be a guy who makes tens of millions of dollars per year, but things are looking up
Nathan Grayson
