Belgian game studio Larian Studios, known for the successful game Baldur's Gate 3, recently found itself in the spotlight due to a debate about generative artificial intelligence. It all began when CEO and co-founder Swen Vincke mentioned in an interview with Bloomberg that the team was experimenting with AI tools while creating the new Divinity game. People interpreted this as AI replacing artists, triggering a major wave of criticism from players, developers, and former studio employees. Larian has now clarified everything in a Reddit AMA, where Swen Vincke and other team members answered fans' questions.
What did Swen Vincke say about AI?
In the Reddit AMA, Swen Vincke clearly stated that no generative AI will be used for concept art in the new Divinity game. Specifically, he wrote: "There will be no generative AI art in Divinity." He added that the studio understands why people were confused by his earlier comments to Bloomberg, where he discussed experiments with AI for exploring ideas, fleshing out PowerPoint presentations, developing concept art, and writing placeholder text. However, the studio has now decided to remove generative AI tools from the concept art creation process entirely, leaving no room for doubt about the art's origin. Vincke emphasized that no concept art has been created using AI so far, but for the sake of clarity, they are now taking a strict approach.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the studio still plans to use AI internally to accelerate idea testing—the more iterations, the better the gameplay. The goal is a more focused development cycle with less waste and a higher-quality game.
What the team says about text and writing
Writing, not just art, was also discussed. Writing director Adam Smith explained in the AMA that Divinity will not use any generative AI for text such as dialogue, journal entries, or other writing. He said that a small group had experimented with text-generation tools, but the results were a 3/10 at best. He compared this with his own first drafts, which are at least a 4/10, and emphasized that the number of iterations needed to achieve the desired quality is enormous. AI is therefore used only for research, not for development itself, because its quality is far too low compared with Larian's human standards.
Swen Vincke left the door open to future uses of AI, but with conditions. If the studio were to use a generative AI model to create in-game assets, it would be trained exclusively on data the studio itself owns. Importantly, it will not generate creative assets without being 100% certain about the origin of the training data and having the creators' consent. Vincke summarized it as follows: "It is important to note that we will not generate 'creative assets' that end up in the game without being 100% certain about the origin of the training data and having the consent of those who created the data." This means that Larian wants to remain ethical and protect original creative work.
Baldur's Gate 3 has sold more than 20 million copies, and Larian recently announced a new entry in the Divinity series at The Game Awards 2025. The studio is thus responding to the community's concerns and trying to maintain the trust of players who appreciate handcrafted game art.
Source: theverge.com
