Amid growing backlash from fans, the person behind the viral GTA 6 gameplay “leaked” video has admitted that it was created using Generative AI.
IGN reported on an X/Twitter post made by the Zap Actu GTA6 account, which contained “leaked” gameplay clips of GTA 6, pointing to Discord. A video posted earlier this week – which has now been removed – showed playable character Lucia walking in the rain. Despite a community note warning against relying on it as official footage from Rockstar, it went viral and garnered 8 million views in just 24 hours. But there were also several other similar clips from the same account with millions of impressions, and based on the replies, many believed they contained actual leaked gameplay footage.
In the Zap Actu GTA6 Discord, a growing reaction has emerged today as new people flocked to get clarity on whether these were genuine leaks of AI-generated videos.
Now, ZapActu has clarified by issuing a statement and responding to IGN’s questions. He stressed that the video was designed to “see people’s reactions and demonstrate how easy it has become to blur the line between reality and AI-generated content in 2025.” ZapActu apologized “to anyone who felt frustrated, disappointed or misled by these posts.” He further added, “It was never done with bad intentions.”
ZapActu stated that they did not make any money from the post, nor was there any financial motive behind “this experiment”. ZapActu is now in the process of removing posts and closing accounts.
He added, “It was never my intention to harm anyone.” “I just wanted to create something interesting that could bring people together and promote discussion within the GTA 6 community. I really never expected one video to generate such a massive amount of engagement and reach.”
And, in a direct message to IGN, he concluded: “Actually this was a huge joke, I just did it to entertain the community. Sorry for the false hope.”
Deceptive videos created by generic AI have spread across the Internet in recent years as the technology has become more popular and accessible. And it’s a problem that affects all entertainment. Last month, IGN reported on physicist Brian Cox, Which went public with complaints about YouTube accounts that used AI to create deepfakes saying “nonsense” about Comet 3I/ATLASSimilarly, Keanu Reeves recently hit out at John Wick star’s AI deepfake for selling products without his permissionEmphasizing that “it’s not very funny.” This news came in July Reeves pays a company a few thousand dollars a month to remove imitators like TikTok and Meta,
Can anything meaningful be done? last month, The Japanese government made a formal request asking OpenAI to refrain from copyright infringement Sora was followed by 2 users who created videos bearing the likeness of copyrighted characters from anime and video games. Sora 2, which OpenAI launched on October 1, is capable of creating 20-second long videos at 1080p resolution with sound. Soon after its release, social media was flooded with videos produced by the app, many of which included depictions of copyrighted characters, including those from popular anime and game franchises such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, Pokémon, and Mario. Despite protests from the Japanese, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has declared the Sora 2 video to be “interactive fan fiction” using copyrighted characters.
As far as GTA 6 is concerned, given that the game won’t be released for another 12 months, expect more and more credible AI-generated gameplay “leaks” to hit the internet as fans desperate for official information from Rockstar – and, hopefully, Trailer 3 – wait.
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Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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