Not long after Larian Studios announced their new Divinity game, the studio has come under fire after its CEO confirmed they were using generative AI.
The original blowback came from a post-reveal interview Larian CEO Swen Vincke had where he reportedly said Larian is “pushing hard on generative AI, even though it hasn’t led to big gains in efficiency.”
It’s worth noting the above statement is phrasing from Bloomberg writer Jason Schreier, and not a direct quote from Vincke. Regardless, it launched a firestorm of concern and criticism from fans over the studio using gen AI.
The interview went on to note that Larian was using gen AI to “explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art and write placeholder text,” once again phrasing from the article and not a direct quote.
Criticism from the report was so commonplace Vincke promptly posted a response clarifying the comments, saying they use gen AI to “explore references”, not replace artists wholesale in game production and design.
“I was asked explicitly about concept art and our use of Gen AI. I answered that we use it to explore things. I didn’t say we use it to develop concept art,” Vincke said. “The artists do that. And they are indeed world class artists. We use AI tools to explore references, just like we use google and art books. At the very early ideation stages we use it as a rough outline for composition which we replace with original concept art. There is no comparison.”
Vincke added, “We’ve hired creatives for their talent, not for their ability to do what a machine suggests, but they can experiment with these tools to make their lives easier.”
So, according to the Larian CEO, the original Bloomberg report misconstrued what he said and outright fabricated statements which resulted in a whirlwind of blowback over their promising new game.
Some concerns from fans or creators noted any generative AI use is unacceptable, regardless of whether or not it is used in final production.
Some game companies have suggested to assume “all game companies” are using genAI, while others have already canceled games over genAI use, and others openly disclosed genAI use and still proved to be insanely popular, like Arc Raiders.
Here’s the full message from Vincke on the backlash:
Holy fuck guys we’re not “pushing hard” for or replacing concept artists with AI.
We have a team of 72 artists of which 23 are concept artists and we are hiring more. The art they create is original and I’m very proud of what they do.
I was asked explicitly about concept art and our use of Gen AI. I answered that we use it to explore things. I didn’t say we use it to develop concept art. The artists do that. And they are indeed world class artists.
We use AI tools to explore references, just like we use google and art books. At the very early ideation stages we use it as a rough outline for composition which we replace with original concept art. There is no comparison.
I talked about how we use ML here if you would like to know more: https://gamespot.com/articles/baldurs-gate-3-dev-embraces-machine-learning-for-tasks-that-nobody-wants-to-do/1100-6531123/
We’ve hired creatives for their talent, not for their ability to do what a machine suggests, but they can experiment with these tools to make their lives easier.
