KCD2 director shares his take on generative AI as Larian gets dragged — "I'm no fan of AI generated art, but anyway, it's time to face reality."

This week, the news that Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios is using generative AI “at the very early stages” to “explore references” for its concept artists working on its upcoming new game Divinity ignited major controversy, with players and developers alike across the gaming industry criticizing the RPG maker for its adoption of the technology.

Larian’s stance on the matter — as explained by both publishing director Michael Douse and studio founder and CEO Swen Vincke — is that AI is an optional tool its developers can use if they want to, and that “they can experiment with these tools to make their lives easier.” It’s also promised that there will be no AI-generated content in Divinity itself, and compares its use to the way artists might search Google or art books for a reference to look at.

These assurances have done little to assuage outrage, however, with many arguing that using AI to make references drawn from art across the web is unethical, and not the same as someone taking inspiration from specific works they see.

Notably, though, the situation has inspired a lot of debate about what kinds of AI use are — if any — and aren’t okay in game development, with many in the industry weighing in.

One particularly lengthy take comes from Daniel Vávra, lead on the acclaimed 2025 RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and co-founder of its developer Warhorse Studios. In a post made on Wednesday morning, Vávra argues that while he doesn’t like AI-generated content, AI itself is here to stay, and that he looks forward to the ways it can make developing games more efficient even if it “may mean the demise of humanity.” You can read the whole thing below:

“Larian said they were doing something that absolutely everyone else is doing and got an insanely crazy shitstorm,” Vávra noted. ”I'm no fan of AI generated art, but anyway, it's time to face reality. AI is here to stay with us. As frightening as it may be, that's the way it is.”

He went on to voice his frustration with how long making games makes in the modern industry, and said he’s “all for it” whenever AI can handle “the tiresome and boring tasks,” leaving creatives “to focus on the essentials.”

“On the other hand, you know what I hate most about making games? The fact that it takes 7 years and 300 people and tens of millions of dollars to make. And the fact that [Tom McKay, actor of protagonist Henry] had to spend 500 hours in the studio recording completely generic heckling and generic bars,” he continued. “If AI can help me make an epic game in a year with a smaller team like in the old days, I'm all for it.”

Personally, I believe there's valuable character and artful performance even in simple dialogue lines like "ordering a sausage in a pub or when asking how to get to the castle," but I digress. Vávra then expressed excitement for the potential of AI to allow you to "ask ANYONE ANYTHING in an RPG," suggested it threatens the work of programmers the most, and asserted his belief that it could lead to a boom of game development enabled by the low cost of using AI (though he didn't mention factors like its substantial environmental impact).

"The whole AI revolution may mean the demise of humanity, nobody knows now, but it may also mean that ANYONE, at a fraction of the current cost, will be able to implement virtually any grand idea," he wrote. "What we saw with boom of indie scene thanks to Steam, we will see with AAA games thanks to AI. Or Skynet will destroy us before all that. Either way, there's no stopping it."

"I used AI to translate this text from my native language," he added. "Let the sh*tstorm begin!"

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