Rockstar Boss Throws Shade at Elon Musk Over GTA 6 Comment

The CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Grand Theft Auto 6 developer Rockstar Games, has responded to claims by Elon Musk and AI enthusiasts who suggest that GTA 6 could be duplicated. In doing so, CEO Strauss Zelnick takes a clear shot at Elon Musk, too.

For context, there was an interaction between the Twitter fan page GTA 6 Countdown, the Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, and Elon Musk back in January. The GTA 6 fan page aggregated a statement from Musk where he claimed: “There’s a chance AI will let anyone generate their own GTA 6 in a few minutes, before GTA 6.” At that time and as of that writing, Grand Theft Auto 6 is still slated to release in November 2026. Sweeney chimed in, saying that “text-to-GTA” was the next logical step for AI after “text-to-image and text-to-video.” And then Elon Musk chimed in, saying that folks wouldn’t even need to give AI a prompt for it, that “AI will figure what video game you’d like best.”

GTA 6 Confirms Summer 2026 Plans, Reaffirms Release Date

Take-Two Interactive provides fans with a highly anticipated update regarding GTA 6, as the studio reveals big plans for Summer 2026.

Take-Two Boss Says Elon Musk Can Be Replaced By AI, But Not GTA 6

Now, as first reported by GamesRadar, Zelnick has responded to such claims about games like GTA 6 and generative AI, directly commenting on Musk, at the Leadership in an Uncertain World panel at the Semafor World Economy 2026 summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. In brief, Zelnick suggests that Elon Musk is much more replaceable (around the 32-minute mark):

“[Musk] has unlimited financial resources, he has unlimited human resources, and he has, apparently, an unlimited number of ideas. He also knows his way around AI. He also works 20 hours a day. If AI were to take anyone’s job, wouldn’t it take his job?…Like the richest guy on Earth, wouldn’t that be job number one for AI to take? Why is he so busy? By the way, why am I working harder than ever despite the fact that I’ve totally accepted AI into every part of my life?”

Zelnick’s remarks shouldn’t surprise anyone, as this is far from the first time he has commented on generative AI in discussion of GTA 6. In a prior interview with GamesIndustry.Biz, Zelnick stated that generative AI has “zero part” to do with the world that Rockstar Games is building. “Do I think [AI] tools by themselves create great entertainment products? No, there’s no evidence that that’s the case, and it won’t be the case in the future. Specifically in regard to GTA 6, Generative AI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building. Their worlds are handcrafted. That’s what differentiates them. They’re built from the ground up, building by building, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. They’re not procedurally generated; they shouldn’t be. That’s what makes great entertainment.”

It’s worth noting that not only is GTA 6 currently slated to release at the end of this year, but also, as of late 2025, Elon Musk claimed xAI—his artificial intelligence company responsible for Grok—would release a fully AI-generated video game and movie by the end of 2026. That was in October. Since then, there has been no gameplay, no trailer, no concrete details, no confirmed studio output, and no timeline updates beyond Musk’s original promise.

Guess the games from the emojis.

Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)

Rockstar Games tend to be seminal releases for the industry, and they remain as such, with video game developers actively avoiding November 2026 release dates. When Zelnick says GTA 6 can’t be made by generative AI, also implying a game of its quality cannot be made (as well as many other quality games), it’s worth listening to.