"It's similar to mad cow disease": Co-founder of Rockstar Games warns of AI content "consuming itself"

Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games, shared a stark perspective on artificial intelligence in a recent interview on Virgin Radio UK. Comparing AI-generated content to the spread of mad cow disease, Houser suggested that systems training on their own outputs risk collapsing due to repetitive cycles.

Houser, known for shaping hits like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, expressed both amazement and concern over the tech industry's rapid adoption of large-scale AI models. He criticized some proponents of AI for lacking creativity, highlighting debates ongoing across the entertainment sector.

According to Houser, AI systems gather existing online material as training data, which could soon result in the internet being dominated by AI-produced content. He warned that this loop of self-referential learning could reduce originality, likening it to feeding cows ground-up cattle, which triggered the mad cow outbreak in the 1980s.

"AI is going to eventually consume itself," Houser said. "These models pull data from the web, but as the web fills up with AI-created material, the process becomes recursivesimilar to feeding cows their own kind and creating mad cow disease."

He also questioned the intentions of those driving AI adoption in technology and entertainment. Houser argued that many of these figures lack the creativity and humanity they expect AI to replicate, suggesting a disconnect between machine capabilities and human imagination. He emphasized that the move toward AI often overlooks the interests of artists and gamers who value human input.

"Some of the people shaping the future of creativity through AI are not the most creative or humane. They act as if machines are superior to humans in imagination, which is clearly false," Houser remarked.

Public Response

Social media quickly reacted to Housers statements. Many users supported his caution, while others focused on his vivid comparisons. One user noted, "AI can never match human creativity or produce games like GTA or Red Dead."

Another comment highlighted frustration with AIs widespread use: "Its depressing how its been forced into everythingart, voices, ads, entertainment, search results. Were moving backward because of this."

Some praised Housers mad cow analogy as a clear depiction of AI recursion, while others warned that AI merely imitates existing work, predicting that this could lead to increasingly uniform output over time.

Author: Jackson Miller