Regenerative AI will create more jobs in the video game industry, Take-Two (NASDAQ:TTWO) CEO Strauss Zelnick said recently, despite the fact that thousands of animators and other behind-the-scenes workers have lost their jobs due to the technology.
“It will not reduce employment, it will increase employment,” Zelnick said during a talk on Oct. 17 at The Paley Center for Media, according to media reports.. “Technology always increases productivity, which in turn increases GDP, which in turn increases employment.”
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A report earlier this year by the organizers of the Game Developers Conference, found that 1-in-10 game developers have been laid off in the previous year. Additionally, 30% of developers surveyed said AI has a negative impact on the video game industry, a 12-point increase from last year’s survey.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which owns video game console Xbox, laid off 9,000 workers in July with many of the cuts coming from its gaming division. Some of those workers trained AI to create new levels for the mobile video game Candy Crush before they were let go, according to media reports.
Wired magazine reported last year that multiple video game production companies started using regenerative AI for game development after firing thousands of workers.
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AI in the video game industry
Zelnick told CNBC in February his company believes in “protecting and paying human beings.”
“We believe we ought to pay for their work if it’s replicated by AI after their work is done,” he said.
And while he said AI has its benefits, he stopped short of saying it could completely replace humans in the industry. “I think it’s worth noting, though, the genius is human,” he told CNBC. “The tools may be digital, but the creative genius is human,”
During remarks at the Paley Center for Media, he said that there’s only so much AI can do. “Will it create a genius? No,” he reportedly said. “Will it create hits? No. It’s a bunch of data with a bunch of computers with a language model attached.”
He said people should look at AI as another tool. “Our business has been involved with digital tools since its inception,” he said. “I think we’ll probably be able to create a bunch of efficiency, and we’re already trying to do that.”
