If you weren’t around for The Game Awards, the big announcement of the awards show was that Divinity is in development at Larian Studios. This is the same studio behind the original Divinity series, as well as Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin. Shortly after the awards show, Larian Studio Head Swen Vincke shocked everyone by saying that the studio is “pushing hard” on the use of Generative AI for the development of Divinity. Well, the studio is now doing a complete one-eighty on the use of AI, saying, “There is not going to be any GenAI art in Divinity.”
Swen Vincke Performs One-Eighty on Generative AI Use in Divinity
Last month, Swen Vincke, CEO of Larian Studios, told Bloomberg that the team is using Generative AI, saying that the team would “use AI tools to explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art, and write placeholder text.” Of course, the internet did not like this, and the studio was immediately met with backlash. The use of generative AI by Larian and other studios has been deemed uncreative by many.
Now that some time has passed, Larian Studios has begun answering questions about the upcoming Divinity title on Reddit, and to the surprise of many, the team has turned away from the use of Generative AI.
One fan asked the team, “I’m curious, what is your opinion on the role of generative AI in the game development process, and for your studio in particular?” In response, Swen Vincke stated, “So first off – there is not going to be any GenAI art in Divinity. I know there’s been a lot of discussion about us using AI tools as part of concept art exploration. We already said this doesn’t mean the actual art is generated by AI, but we understand it created confusion. So, to ensure there is no room for doubt, we’ve decided to refrain from using GenAI tools during concept art development.”
While Lariant will not be using generative AI to create concept art, the CEO did state, “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.”
