Take-Two Forces Removal of AI-Powered Grand Theft Auto Mod From the Web

The Grand Theft Auto 5 mod that used artificial intelligence to create in-game characters that could talk to and respond to players has been forcibly removed from the internet following a copyright claim by Rockstar Games’ parent company, Take-Two.

On Wednesday, GTA5 modder Bloc announced via Youtube that Take-Two issued a copyright claim on their video showing off Sentient Streets. The Sentient Streets mod used several AI tools, including text-to-speech, voice cloning and generative in-game AI, to give 30 non-playable characters spontaneous, fully voiced dialogue. Players could use a microphone to speak directly to these NPCs, who in return could provide them with missions and tasks as well as build a rapport.

Bloc says Take-Two hit their channel with a copyright strike, forcing them to remove video of Sentient Streets from the channel without giving them an opportunity to object or explain why they made the mod. Bloc also says the installation guide they hosted on web development platform Netlify was also taken down, and their account on the service was suspended. The mod was also removed from popular mod hosting site NexusMods.

“I contacted [the] claimant email address shown on YouTube (which was Take2 email address), was hoping that there might be a small misunderstanding or that they could explain the reasoning behind it,” Bloc wrote. “Perhaps this occurred automatically, but the evidence suggests a deliberate manual DMCA takedown request from them. I also didn't get any response back.”

Bloc has been experimenting with AI tech to create characters that are more responsive to the player in other games, including Skyrim and Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord. The GTA 5 version attracted substantial attention, pulling in more than 100,000 views, according to Bloc’s note on YouTube.

Earlier this week, Bloc told Eurogamer they “always had the idea of creating a virtual world like GTA, but a version where you can also interact and talk with NPCs like real people.”

“Hopefully, with this mod, I was able to demonstrate that using AI in video games doesn't necessarily mean complete randomness and unpredictable gameplay,” he told the outlet. “Games [that] want to tell a story can also use [AI-powered Large Language Models] to enrich their storytelling with unique roleplaying experiences for the players."

The modder called Take-Two’s action “disheartening” and defended their work, adding that the mod was totally free.

“The mod does not utilize any voices from Grand Theft Auto nor does it distribute anything it shouldn't,” they wrote. “I haven't even included my Patreon link in any of the mod descriptions or videos to avoid any potential controversy. I am not a lawyer, but as far as I am aware, mod is not violating any Grand Theft Auto or YouTube policy.”

In order to avoid any further discipline, Block says they removed the mod from GTA5-Mods.com

Bloc implored Rockstar to avoid taking down small mods for its games, invoking the recent controversy surrounding the recent re-issue of the original Red Dead Redemption.

“Rather than chasing small mods, perhaps they should focus on creating proper remakes with better pricing policy or should stop removing cars from Online to sell [the] same cars to people,” they wrote.

Rockstar Games has had a rocky relationship with modders for its many popular series. In the lead up to the release of the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition, Rockstar forced the removal of several mods meant to add minor improvements to the original games.

Only recently has Rockstar begun to acknowledge modders in a significant way. Last week, the company announced that it has established a working relationship with the team behind the popular GTA roleplaying mod FiveM. 

Rockstar Games and Take Two did not immediately respond to requests for comment.