Today, Larian Studios, known for Baldur’s Gate 3 and the newly unveiled Divinity, found itself at the center of controversy. Discussions have emerged regarding the studio’s use of generative AI for tasks like concept art and placeholder text. This revelation has sparked a passionate debate within the gaming community. In response, Swen Vincke, Larian’s founder and game director, addressed these concerns by asserting that the studio is not integrating AI into the released game nor replacing staff with AI. He emphasized AI’s role as a tool to enhance the workday, not diminish it.
Exploring AI in Game Development
The original details emerged from a Bloomberg interview with Vincke. According to him, Larian is “pushing hard” on generative AI, though the technology hasn’t yet resulted in significant efficiency improvements. Its current use includes idea exploration, PowerPoint presentation enhancements, concept art development, and placeholder text creation.
Vincke assured that the final version of Divinity will not include AI-generated content. “Everything is human actors; we’re writing everything ourselves,” he stated. Nonetheless, there are mixed reactions internally at Larian, with some team members expressing reservations. Vincke believes that most employees accept the current use of AI.
Community Reactions and Backlash
The gaming community has voiced its concerns over Larian’s AI strategy. On Bluesky, critiques are emerging from various corners of the game development field, including former Larian staff. Selena Tobin, a former environment artist at Larian, shared her discontent, urging the company to rethink its direction and respect its talented workforce. The Divinity and Baldur’s Gate 3 communities show a mix of opinions, with some accepting AI for concept purposes, though overall backlash persists. Comparisons are drawn to other games like The Alters, which faced similar reactions due to AI use but received a more forgiving attitude from fans.
In light of the criticism, Vincke provided a detailed response highlighting Larian’s commitment to expanding its team of concept artists and other creatives. He reinforced that AI serves as a complementary tool, not a substitute for human creativity and talent. Vincke stressed the importance of AI as an additive element in creative processes, aimed at enhancing workflows rather than replacing jobs.
We’ve been continuously increasing our pool of concept artists, writers, and storytellers, actively forming writer rooms, casting and recording performances, and recruiting translators.
Since concept art is being called out explicitly – we have 23 concept artists and have job openings for more. These artists are creating concept art day in, day out for ideation and production use.
Everything we do is incremental and aimed at having people spend more time creating.
Any ML tool used well is additive to a creative team or individual’s workflow, not a replacement for their skill or craft.
We are researching and understanding the cutting edge of ML as a toolset for creatives to use and see how it can make their day-to-day lives easier, which will let us make better games.
We are neither releasing a game with any AI components, nor are we looking at trimming down teams to replace them with AI.
While I understand it’s a subject that invokes a lot of emotion, it’s something we are constantly discussing internally through the lens of making everyone’s working day better, not worse.
Vincke’s Clear Stance on Twitter
Vincke further clarified the studio’s stance on Twitter/X:
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…
— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) December 16, 2025
The post reads:
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.
This conversation unfolds as Larian Studios prepares for the launch of its next title, Divinity, announced during The Game Awards last week. Vincke has confirmed that Divinity will be a turn-based RPG, and details are continuing to emerge.