Larian CEO Swen Vincke responds to backlash against AI use while making its new RPG Divinity — "It would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies"

Controversy flared earlier this week when Larian Studios — developer of 2023's Game of the Year-winning RPG Baldur's Gate 3 — was revealed to be using generative AI for ideation while working on its new upcoming turn-based RPG Divinity.

The fiasco began when a Bloomberg interview with Larian CEO Swen Vincke suggested "Larian has been pushing hard on generative AI," though both Vincke himself and publishing director Michael Douse clarified the studio isn't "pushing hard" for AI and is offering it as an optional tool for devs that want to generate a reference image for Larian's concept artists to use. It was also stressed that there will be no AI content whatsoever in Divinity itself.

Many still argue that Larian's use of AI is problematic, however, and maintain that the way it crawls the entire internet to generate a mock-up image is unethical compared to the way a concept artist might organically search Google or art books for inspiration. Thus, the controversy hasn't died down much, and many fans and devs alike — such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 director Daniel Vávra — have weighed in varied opinions about the ordeal and AI use in game development at large.

Now, for the first time since his original reaction to the debacle, Vincke has responded once again in an attempt to explain Larian's position in detail, while also noting that the studio plans to hold an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session. You can read the full post below.

During this AMA, fans will have an opportunity to ask different departments at Larian questions about "Divinity and our dev process directly." A date for it hasn't been given yet, but it's coming "after the holiday break" and we'll get an announcement about a date "in the New Year."

"It’s been a week since we announced Divinity, our next RPG, and a lot has become lost in translation," wrote Vincke. "Larian’s DNA is agency. Everything we work towards is to the benefit of our teams, games, and players. A better work day, and a better game. Our successes come from empowering people to work in their own way and bring the best out of their skill & craft, so that we can make the best RPGs we can possibly make."

He then went on to explain that, with this in mind, he believes it would be wrong of Larian not to explore "new technologies" — though he also noted that the studio isn't above "making changes" when those technologies aren't a good fit, suggesting it's open to moving away from the use of AI.

"In that context, it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies," he asserted. "However, our processes are always evolving, and where they are not efficient or fail to align with who we are, we will make changes."

"To give you more insight, we’ll do an AMA featuring our different departments after the holiday break, in which you’ll get the opportunity to ask us any questions you have about Divinity and our dev process directly," Vincke added. "We’ll announce the date in the new year. In the meantime, I wish you all happy holidays!"

Ultimately, it's good that Vincke and Larian as a studio is remaining open to conversation with the gaming community about this issue, though I'm not surprised given its glowing reputation up to this point. Personally, as someone who detests AI art of any kind, I hope the developer abandons its adoption of the technology, but only time will tell if that happens.

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