Larian Says It'll Keep Using Generative AI – But Not For Art or Writing

Larian's massive AMA session, announced in mid-December in response to criticism the developer received for revealing it uses generative artificial intelligence for some work tasks, has come and gone, finally giving the gaming community a solid answer on whether the company will continue utilizing genAI going forward.

According to studio CEO Swen Vincke, to avoid confusion over what does and doesn't count as AI use, Larian's upcoming Divinity title will feature "no GenAI art," including during concept art development. "That way there can be no discussion about the origin of the art," he added. The same applies to the game's writing, with Writing Director Adam Smith stating that no text generation will be used for dialogue, journal entries, or any other written content in Divinity.

That said, the CEO's statement wasn't a total victory for the anti-AI side of the debate, with Vincke noting that Larian will continue to employ generative AI to speed up how the studio refines its ideas, arguing that this could lead to a "more focused development cycle, less waste, and ultimately, a higher-quality game."

He also made it clear that future Larian titles featuring AI-generated in-game assets is also not 100% off the table, with a caveat that even if such assets do find their way into the games, they will be generated with a model built by Larian itself to ensure the company owns the data that was used to train the AI. Below is Vincke's full quote:

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