Rockstar co-founder compares generative AI to mad cow disease in an „extremely apt comparison”

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Dan Houser, a co-founder of the studio behind the Grand Theft Auto series, recently made a striking comparison about the potential impact of generative AI. Having left Rockstar Games and facing accusations of anti-union practices after layoffs in the UK, Houser described AI as being like “mad cow disease” during a UK radio interview. He felt this was a fitting analogy, referencing how that disease quickly spread through a population.

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser compares generative AI to “mad cow disease” in an “extremely apt comparison”

After leaving Rockstar Games in 2020, Dan Houser started Absurd Ventures, a studio creating video games and other kinds of entertainment. They’ve already released a comic book series called American Caper and an audio drama, A Better Paradise. Houser has been giving interviews to promote his new book, and he’s also been sharing his thoughts on important issues in the gaming world, especially those involving artificial intelligence. Recently, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, sparked debate by suggesting that stores like Steam shouldn’t require labels on games made with AI. Meanwhile, the creators of the popular game Dispatch have argued that AI could never replicate the performance of their voice actors.

I was reading an interview with Sam Houser, and someone asked him if he thought AI would really live up to all the hype. His answer was pretty interesting! He basically said he doesn’t think so, explaining that he believes AI will eventually collapse in on itself. He described it like this: AI learns by looking all over the internet, but soon the internet will be filled with stuff created by AI, so it’s like feeding cows to cows – a recipe for disaster, kind of like mad cow disease! People on Reddit really loved that comparison, and honestly, I get it – it’s a really clever way to put it.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, mad cow disease caused significant concern, particularly in the United Kingdom, though it was also a worry in the United States. While the exact way it spread is still debated, a leading idea is that infected cows’ bones or blood ended up in the feed given to other cattle, causing the disease to spread. Consuming meat from a cow with mad cow disease was always fatal for humans.

People on Reddit praised Houser’s comparison, with one popular comment stating that just like mad cow disease (caused by feeding cattle to other cattle), AI is being trained on data increasingly created by AI itself – a very fitting analogy. The commenter predicted this could lead to AI models failing. Another user noted the comparison connects to the “dead internet theory,” the idea that the internet is becoming filled with AI-generated content instead of genuine human posts.

From what Dan Houser has said about his new company, Absurd Ventures, it sounds like he’s not planning on using a lot of that new generative AI stuff in his games – and honestly, I’m okay with that! It’s cool to see a lot of other gamers feel the same way, and it’s encouraging that people are willing to support developers who avoid AI. It’ll be interesting to see how this whole debate plays out over the next few years, though.

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2025-12-02 02:32