Search
Search
Larian Studios Draws Harder Line On AI, Clarifies Stance In Reddit AMA
16.3k
Lan Pitts
2026-01-09
In a Reddit AMA, Larian Studios clarified its stance on generative AI, distancing Divinity from industry controversies and reinforcing its commitment to fully human-made art and storytelling. Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke, as well as creative directors, recently participated in an AMA on Reddit to set expectations for the studio’s upcoming Divinity game, particularly about its stance on generative AI--a hot-button topic in the industry right now. Responding to a fan question about the role of generative AI in game development, Vincke was rather blunt: "There is not going to be any GenAI art in Divinity." His comments arrive amid wider debate over how and whether AI should be used in creative processes, especially as some high-profile games have faced backlash for such use. One notable example is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the acclaimed RPG that had two Indie Game Awards (including Game of the Year and Debut Game) rescinded when it was revealed the title had included AI-generated assets during development, violating strict no-AI rules--even though those assets were patched out later. In the AMA, Vincke acknowledged that previous discussions about experimenting with AI tools for concept-art had been confusing. To make its intentions clear, the studio has elected to avoid generative AI entirely in concept-art creation for Divinity. As Vincke put it, there should be no doubt about where the art came from. "We've decided to refrain from using genAI tools during concept-art development. That way, there can be no discussion about the origin of the art," Vinke replied. "Having said that, we continuously try to improve the speed with which we can try things out. The more iterations we can do, the better, in general, the gameplay is. We think GenAI can help with this, and so we’re trying things out across departments. Our hope is that it can aid us to refine ideas faster, leading to a more focused development cycle, less waste, and ultimately, a higher-quality game." Vinke did note that the creative assets will not be generated from outside. If an AI model is used to create something, it will be trained on data or art that Larian itself owns. Fans weren't done there, though: A follow-up question asked whether the no-AI stance applied only to concept-art, or if it extended to other creative areas such as writing. They also pointed out previous mentions of using AI for placeholder text and wondered whether such use could undesirably influence final content. Larian's writing director, Adam Smith, responded: "The stance applies to writing as well. We don't have any text generation touching our dialogues, journal entries, or other writing in Divinity." Smith went further in explaining that using AI to generate placeholder text offered no real benefit after working with a model. "We had a limited group experimenting with tools to generate text, but the results hit a 3/10 at best, and those tools are for research purposes, not for use in Divinity. Even my worst first drafts--and there are a lot of them--are at least a 4/10 (although Swen might disagree), and the amount of iteration required to get even individual lines to the quality we want is enormous." Divinity Will Have Co-Op At Launch Larian CEO Says "A Lot Has Been Lost In Translation" Amid Divinity's AI Blowback Divinity Devs Feel "More Pressure" After Baldur's Gate 3's Massive Success
3.0k
5
Send
404Soul
Feb 03, 06:01 PM
😅 Shockingly deep
0
shyPigeon
Jan 29, 09:21 PM
This is terrible! well like This and that No mod support.
0
rainbowBattery
Jan 18, 08:21 AM
🕹️ fantastic No replay value. I lost it. nah bro^
0
mindFreeze
Jan 09, 07:51 PM
yo 🥳 Yeah right. hot stuff What's your take?
0
mehMachine
Jan 09, 05:51 PM
Did you buy it? $Retro feeling. I threw it away. never
0
Recent Articles