The man behind the GTA 6 gameplay “leaked” video that went viral online amid mounting backlash from fans has admitted that the video was created using generative AI.
IGN reported on an X/Twitter post by the Zap Actu GTA6 account that included a “leaked” gameplay clip of GTA 6 while pointing to Discord. A now-deleted video posted earlier this week showed the playable character Lucia walking in the rain. The video went viral, racking up 8 million views in just over 24 hours, despite community warnings not to trust it as an official Rockstar video. However, there were many other similar clips from the same account with millions of impressions, and based on the replies, many believed they featured genuine leaked gameplay footage.
The Zap Actu GTA6 Discord is experiencing a growing backlash today as new entrants flood in asking for clarification on whether the AI-generated video is a genuine leak or not.
Now, ZapActu has released a statement and answered questions from IGN, clarifying its innocence. They claimed that these videos were designed to “observe people’s reactions and demonstrate how easily the line between reality and AI-generated content will blur by 2025.” ZapActu apologized “to anyone who felt irritated, disappointed, or misled by these posts.” They continued, “This was in no way malicious.”
ZapActu said it did not profit from the posts and there was no financial motive behind “this experiment.” ZapActu is currently in the process of deleting the post and closing the account.
“My intention was never to hurt anyone,” they continued. “I simply wanted to create something interesting that would bring people together and spark discussion within the GTA 6 community. I never expected that just one video would generate so much engagement and reach.”
And in a direct message to IGN, they concluded, “Actually it was a big joke. We did it just to entertain the community. Sorry for giving you the wrong expectations lol.”
As generative AI technology has become more popular and accessible in recent years, misleading videos created by generative AI have exploded on the internet. And it’s an issue that affects all entertainment. Last month, IGN reported on physicist Brian Cox: The person who published a complaint against a YouTube account that used AI to create a deepfake saying “nonsense” about Comet 3I/ATLAS. Similarly, Keanu Reeves recently slammed AI deepfakes that are allowing the John Wick star to sell products without his permissionclaimed it was “not very fun.” It was reported in July that Reeves is paying companies thousands of dollars a month to force companies like TikTok and Meta to weed out copycats..
Can we do something meaningful? last month, The Japanese government formally requested OpenAI to refrain from copyright infringement. Starting with Sora 2, users created videos featuring likenesses of copyrighted characters from anime and video games. Launched by OpenAI on October 1, Sora 2 can generate 20-second videos with sound at 1080p resolution. Soon after its release, social media was flooded with videos generated by the app. Many included depictions of copyrighted characters, including characters from popular anime and game series such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, Pokemon, and Mario. Despite Japanese protests, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared the Sora 2 video, which uses copyrighted characters, “interactive fan fiction.”
As for GTA 6, given the game’s release is still 12 months away, we can expect increasingly convincing AI-generated gameplay “leaks” to be published on the internet as fans wait for official information from Rockstar and, hopefully, trailer 3.
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Wesley is IGN’s Director of News. Find me on Twitter @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
