Sony and Take-Two CEOs deny AI replaces creativity, citing backward-looking data

Sony Group CEO Hiroki Totoki said AI will not replace human creativity in game development. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick called AI backward-looking data that cannot drive creativity. Both executives separate AI as a production efficiency tool from AI as a creative author. PlayStation and Take-Two deploy AI in workflows but exclude it from GTA 6.

Totoki protects creator rights while directing staff to use AI
Totoki told the Paley International Summit that creativity belongs to humans, not machines.
"Creativity is for humans, not AI." - Hiroki Totoki, President and CEO, Sony Group
He said Sony keeps rights with creators and artists even as AI use expands internally.
Totoki said he encourages Sony staff to use AI in a certain manner for their work.
PlayStation already leverages AI heavily in its game-development processes, per the same remarks.

Zelnick cites Home Alone to argue algorithms miss unexpected hits
Zelnick described AI as a dataset, compute and large language model, nothing more.
He called datasets backward-looking by definition, while creativity is forward-looking.
"If hits are unexpected, data sets aren't gonna get you there, no matter how fluent they are." - Strauss Zelnick, CEO, Take-Two Interactive
At Fox, Zelnick greenlit Home Alone, which became the highest-grossing comedy ever despite low expectations.
He argues AI could not have predicted that outcome from historical data alone.

PlayStation and Take-Two draw an operational line between AI workflows and flagship IP
PlayStation uses AI heavily across its internal game-development processes, per Totoki's remarks.
Take-Two applies AI to production workflows but confirms no AI exists in GTA 6.
The split keeps AI confined to backend efficiency while shielding headline IP from creative authorship.
Both executives frame this boundary as protecting rights holders while still endorsing AI adoption.

Developer and player pushback signals unresolved risk beneath the reassurance
Developers and players have pushed back against AI in game development industry-wide.
Concerns cited include job security, legal exposure and broader quality erosion from automation.
Neither executive addressed how AI-driven job displacement squares with their creativity-first framing.
What this means
For Publishers & Developers: Publish an AI-use boundary separating pipeline tools from shipped creative content before launch marketing.
For Investors & VC: Add disclosure of AI-generated assets in shipped content to studio diligence checklists.
For Service Vendors: Pitch AI-accelerated QA and localization pipelines to major publishers with human-authored creative deliverables.