Swen Vincke said the studio is “neither releasing a game with any AI components, nor are we looking at trimming down teams to replace them with AI.”
Larian Studios is facing sharp criticism after founder and game director Swen Vincke’s comments about the studio’s use of generative AI sparked an online backlash. Fans, former developers, and the broader gaming community quickly took to Reddit and social media to voice their anger, and Vincke has responded with clarification and defence of the studio’s approach.
Earlier this week, in an interview with Bloomberg, Vincke admitted that Larian is “pushing hard” on generative AI. The technology is reportedly used behind the scenes for concept art exploration, placeholder text, and developing ideas, though Vincke emphasised it does not appear in any final game content.
Fans take to Reddit to express their disappontment over Larian's use of AI for Divinity
The community reaction was swift. On Reddit, comments ranged from anger to wary acceptance.
“I can't say I'm surprised, but I expected better from Larian, wrote Redditor DCAScrub in their post. “If you use Gen AI during the most creative steps in development and iteration, it taints the whole creative process in my eyes,” they added.
Others, like P-Two, came to Larian’s defense, saying that the article stated that AI was only used “for placeholder text, concept art and for PowerPoint.”
In another Reddit thread, Gnl_Winter shared how they think the use of AI sounded “reasonable use." However, what bugs them was “the use of it for concept art,” claiming that it can pose as “ethical copyright issue” and also hampering creativity.
Despite assurances, some gamers remain sceptical, arguing that AI used in early concepting inevitably influences the final product.
Larian’s clarifies misconceptions and their stance on AI
Vincke has been active in responding to the backlash. In a statement he shared with and reported by IGN, he stressed that Larian has been “continuously increasing our pool of concept artists, writers and story-tellers, [and are] actively putting together writer rooms, casting and recording performances from actors and hiring translators.”
Addressing concerns over concept art specifically, he highlighted that the studio has twenty three concept artists on staff, with more positions open, creating original concept art “day in day out for ideation and production use.”
Vincke emphasised that “any ML tool used well is additive to a creative team or individual’s workflow, not a replacement for their skill or craft,” and that Larian is researching machine learning only to understand how it can make creatives’ day-to-day lives easier, ultimately helping them make better games.
He reiterated that the studio is “neither releasing a game with any AI components, nor are we looking at trimming down teams to replace them with AI,” and acknowledged that while AI is a subject that “invokes a lot of emotion,” it is being discussed internally strictly to improve, not replace, human work.
On X (formerly Twitter), his response was a bit more candid, emphasising that Larian is not “pushing hard” for replacing concept artists with AI.
“The art they create is original, and I’m very proud of what they do,” he added. He clarified that he said they use generative AI to “explore things” not develop concept art because “the artists do that. And they are indeed world-class artists.” He also shared a link from a Gamespot article where he tackled this in detail.
Bloomberg’s writer Jason Schreier also posted on Bluesky after his interview article with Vincke went viral. He shared a “rough transcript” of the interview for people to understand the context around the conversation.
Larian maintains that Divinity is fully human-crafted at its core, with AI used only as a supporting tool in early-stage workflows, and that no AI-generated content will appear in the final game.
