Take-Two, the proprietor of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Video games, has seemingly laid off the pinnacle of its AI division, Luke Dicken, and a number of other workers members working beneath him. “It’s actually disappointing that I’ve to share with you that my time with T2 — and that of my staff — has come to an finish,” Dicken shared in a LinkedIn post noticed by Game Developer.
When requested to substantiate the layoffs in its AI division, Take-Two declined to remark.
Dicken writes that his staff was “creating innovative know-how to help recreation growth” and his put up particularly notes that he is looking for roles for workers with expertise in issues like “procedural content material for video games” and “machine studying.” It is unclear how many individuals aside from Dicken have been impacted by these layoffs, however the timing does appear a bit uncommon for Take-Two.
Like some other large game publishers, Take-Two has “actively embraced” generative AI instruments to “drive efficiencies” and “cut back prices.” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has even framed AI as having a constructive impact on employment, noting that generative AI “is not going to cut back employment, it would improve employment,” as a result of “know-how at all times will increase productiveness, which in flip will increase GDP, which in flip will increase employment.”
It is too early to characterize these layoffs as some form of tide turning in opposition to AI — like different massive recreation corporations, Take-Two additionally just does a lot of layoffs — however it’s attention-grabbing they’re occurring now, whereas the corporate is rushing in direction of the discharge of Grand Theft Auto VI. The sequel is expected to be a big hit, one that ought to give Take-Two loads of monetary wiggle-room to experiment with new know-how.
