Take-Two Shuts Down AI Team, Bucking Industry Trend
Take-Two Interactive has laid off its AI team, including its head of artificial intelligence, according to a LinkedIn post from the departing leader. The move signals the gaming giant's continued skepticism about AI's role in creative work.
The layoff comes as most major game studios-including EA, Square Enix, and Krafton-have invested heavily in AI tools. Take-Two's decision stands apart in an industry increasingly adopting generative AI for tasks like translation, artwork, and other development functions.
Leadership's Long-Standing Position
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has consistently argued that AI cannot generate original creativity. The layoff represents his strongest statement yet on the company's AI strategy.
Zelnick recently compared the current AI debate to historical technology panic. "Every entertainment business that was supposed to be destroyed by new technology hasn't been," he said, citing calculators as an example. "When I was a little kid, calculators came along and parents were all up in arms that now schools would not teach kids math. Well, people are learning math today, even though there are calculators."
What the Departing Team Built
The AI team's head described seven years of work developing technology to support game development. He said the team focused on matching innovation with product design to create systems that assist developers throughout the workflow.
Before leading Take-Two's AI efforts, he spent a decade at Zynga as senior director of applied AI. He has since launched LuDic AI, a consulting service focused on best-practice AI use for games-related sectors.
The Broader Context
Take-Two's approach differs sharply from industry peers. Most major publishers have embraced AI tools as standard development infrastructure, despite concerns from workers in translation and visual design roles.
For product development leaders evaluating AI for product development, Take-Two's decision offers a counterpoint to the broader push toward generative AI and LLM adoption. The company's bet is that human creativity remains the core competitive advantage in entertainment software.
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