As is their reputation, it did not take long for Rockstar Games to swing into action. Mere hours after Google's Project Genie wiped nearly 10% off Take-Two Interactive's market value, the company is apparently responding with the tried and true method: by issuing DMCA takedown notices. Multiple videos showing AI-generated Grand Theft Auto-style worlds created with Project Genie are being taken down following what seems to be copyright claims from Take-Two.
The videos in question used Google's AI tool to generate interactive 3D environments that resembled Grand Theft Auto 5 or Grand Theft Auto 6, complete with drivable city streets and open-world exploration. The message from Take-Two is clear: AI might pretend to threaten our entire industry, but we still own GTA, and we're going to protect that IP even if it's being aped by content generated by algorithms.
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Take-Two has a long, well-documented history of copyright enforcement. The company has issued DMCA takedowns against GTA mods, browser ports, and VR adaptations. With AI, Take-Two's MO appears to be that if it looks like GTA, sounds like GTA, or uses anything resembling GTA assets, they will shut it down. The fact that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City won't enter the public domain until 2097 means Take-Two has nearly seven decades left to enforce this position.
Project Genie represents a different challenge. These aren't mods. They're not ports. They're AI-generated approximations of what GTA might look like if created by an algorithm trained on allegedly publicly available data. However, Take-Two isn't waiting for how governments around the world will decide on whether AI art is original or not. They're issuing takedowns now, which sends a clear message to both Google and Project Genie users.
Of course, this doesn't address the fundamental threat that spooked investors in the first place. Even if Take-Two successfully takes down every Project Genie video that looks like GTA, the technology still exists. Google isn't going to shut down Project Genie because Take-Two is mad about it, and the AI will presumably keep improving unless the bubble bursts.
Other companies will release similar tools, and sooner or later, someone might figure out how to generate explorable open worlds that are good enough to compete with Rockstar's work without technically infringing on their copyright. DMCAs and legal threats won't fix that. The only thing that will prove investors wrong about AI disruption is for GTA 6 to launch on November 19, 2026, and be so much better than anything AI can generate that the comparison becomes laughable.
We're ten months away from that launch, and in the meantime, Take-Two is fighting a rearguard action against technology it can't control. The company spent years firing employees over alleged information leaks, locking down GTA 6 with paranoid-level security, and refusing to communicate with fans about anything beyond release dates. All of that was to protect their biggest asset from unauthorized disclosure.
Now, AI is making close approximations of this asset in seconds, and Take-Two's legal team is scrambling to issue takedown notices like it's going to make a difference. Unfortunately, that cat's out of the bag. AI tools can generate GTA-like worlds, and that capability isn't going away no matter how many DMCA claims Take-Two files.
