After some controversy, the creators of Baldur’s Gate 3 creator Larian Studios explained its employ of generative AI in more detail. CEO Swen Vincke and other Larian developers conducted an AMA on Reddit where they answered user questions about the team’s next title, Divinity. They also asked questions related to reports that the studio used generative artificial intelligence in the development process.
“So first of all – there will be no GenAI graphics in Divinity” Vincke wrote in response to a question on Reddit. Last month in an interview with BloombergVincke stated that while he did not employ AI-generated resources in Divinitythe team experimented with artificial intelligence tools “to explore ideas, develop PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art, and write placeholder text.”
His comments were immediately and harshly criticized online by players, developers and former Larian employees. In response to Vincke issued a statement explaining that they weren’t using the tool to generate concept art, but as something artists could employ to iterate on ideas more quickly.
Now in a Reddit AMA it says they won’t be using it for concept art at all. “We have decided to refrain from using genAI tools when creating concept art,” he wrote. “This way there will be no discussion about the origins of art.” Vincke, however, left room for the possible employ of Gen. AI’s AI resources in the future.
“If we use the GenAI model to create in-game assets, it will be trained based on the data we have,” he wrote.
In addition to the graphics, Larian also explained the employ of Gen. AI through text. “We do not have any text generation for our dialogues, journal entries or other texts in Divinity” – – wrote screenwriter Adam Smith. He said that text generation was for research purposes only, not development, and that the results were too low quality compared to a human writer and Larian’s own standards.
“We had a limited group experimenting with text generation tools, but the results were 3/10 at best,” Smith wrote. “Even my worst first drafts… are at least a 4/10… and the amount of iteration required to get even single lines to the quality we want is enormous.”
While these comments may reassure players that at least Gen AI assets won’t make it into the final product, Vincke confirmed that Gen AI will still play a role in Larian.
“We hope this will help us refine ideas faster, leading to a more focused development cycle, less waste, and ultimately a higher quality game.”