Since leaving Rockstar and launching Absurd Ventures, Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has been making the rounds promoting his new book – the latest of which has him quite skeptical of generative AI (gen AI).

Houser made an appearance on Virgin Radio UK with host Chris Evans to discuss his past co-founding Rockstar, their success with Grand Theft Auto, his new book, and at one point gen AI came up because AI is a central figure in his new book(s).

While most wealthy tech moguls seem to be throwing as much cash and hope into gen AI as possible, Houser is definitely more realistic and a tad bit pessimistic on the current tech running gen AI. When asked if AI is going to get where people dream it will be, Houser’s stance is clear:

“I personally don’t think it will, because I think that AI is gonna eventually eat itself,” Houser said. “Because as far as I understand it, which is really superficial, the models scour the internet for information, but the internet’s going to get more and more full of information made by the models. So it’s sort of like when we fed cows with cows and got mad cow disease.”

Comparing gen AI to mad cow disease is how a lot of critics of the tech likely feel, though Houser does have a bit of optimism for the tech.

“It will do some tasks brilliantly, but it’s not going to do every task brilliantly,” he said. Here’s the full interview:

Elsewhere in the interview Houser talked up the tech companies and people driving gen AI, saying they’re trying to “define the future” of human creativity.

“Some of these people trying to define the future of humanity, creativity, or whatever it is using AI, are not the most humane or creative people,” Houser said. “So they’re sort of saying, ‘We’re better at being human than you are.’ It’s obviously not true.”

Houser’s last remarks on AI are probably the most damning though, where he directly critiqued proponents of gen AI as not “fully-rounded humans.”

“Humanity is being pulled in a direction by a certain group of people, who maybe aren’t fully-rounded humans,” Houser added.

Houser’s new book, A BETTER PARADISE: Volume One (An Aftermath), is the first release in their new trans-media project of the same name, A BETTER PARADISE. A new open-world sci-fi game set in the same universe is being developed under publisher Smilegate.