Amid backlash, creator of GTA 6 game 'leaked' video insists it was an 'experiment' meant to show 'how easy it is to blur the lines between reality and AI-generated content'
Blog Andrew Joseph 27 Nov , 2025 0
Amid growing backlash from fans, the man behind a viral “leaked” video of the GTA 6 game has admitted it was created using generative artificial intelligence.
IGN reported On an X/Twitter post published by the Zap Actu GTA6 account, which included “leaked” GTA 6 gameplay footage, while pointing to Discord. A video released earlier this week (now deleted) showed the playable character Lucia walking in the rain. Despite community notes warning not to believe it was an official Rockstar video, it became an instant hit with 8 million views in just 24 hours. But there are many other similar videos from the same account that also have millions of views, and based on the responses, many believe they contain actual leaked gameplay footage.
Today on Zap Actu GTA6's Discord, backlash is growing as newcomers flock to try to figure out whether these are real leaks of AI-generated videos.
Now, ZapActu has come clean, issuing a statement and answering IGN's questions. They insist the purpose of the videos is to “observe people's reactions and show how easy it will be to blur the lines between reality and AI-generated content in 2025”. ZapActu “apologizes to anyone who has been frustrated, disappointed or misled by these posts.” They continued: “This was never done out of spite.”
ZapActu said it did not make any money from the posts and there was no financial motivation behind “this experiment.” ZapActu is currently deleting posts and closing accounts.
“My intention was never to hurt anyone,” they continued. “I just wanted to create something fun that could bring people together and spark discussion within the GTA 6 community. I really didn't expect that one video would have such widespread engagement and impact.”
They concluded in a direct message to IGN: “This was actually a huge joke and I was just doing it to entertain the community. Sorry for the false hope lol.”
In recent years, misleading videos produced by generative artificial intelligence have exploded on the Internet as the technology has become more popular and easier to use. This is an issue that affects all entertainment. Last month, IGN reported that physicist Brian Cox, He publicly complained about YouTube accounts using artificial intelligence to create deepfakes, calling his Comet 3I/ATLAS claims “nonsense.”. Similarly, Keanu Reeves recently slammed the John Wick star for selling AI deepfakes without his permissioninsisting “it's not very funny.” In July, it was reported that Reeves paid a company thousands of dollars a month to let companies like TikTok and Meta fight copycats.
Can you do something meaningful? last month, Japanese government officially asks OpenAI not to infringe copyrights After a Sora 2 user created a video with the likeness of copyrighted characters from anime and video games. Sora 2, launched by OpenAI on October 1, is capable of generating 20-second long videos at 1080p resolution, with sound. Soon after the app was released, social media was flooded with videos generated by the app, many of which contained depictions of copyrighted characters, including those from popular anime and game series such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, Pokémon and Mario. Despite protests from the Japanese, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared Sora 2 videos using copyrighted characters “interactive fan fiction.”
As for GTA 6, considering the game isn't released for another 12 months, expect more and increasingly convincing AI-generated gameplay “leaks” to hit the internet as fans desperate for official information from Rockstar – and a trailer 3 – await.
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Wesley is IGN News Director. Find him on Twitter: @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or privately at [email protected].