Larian Larian CEO Swen Vincke is hitting out at critics after the studio behind Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity started using AI.
A Bloomberg report published on December 16 shed new light on Larian Studios’ use of AI.
The piece says CEO Swen Vincke has pushed the studio to experiment with generative AI, though he stressed it has not delivered major efficiency gains. Vincke made it clear that Divinity will not feature AI-generated content, saying all writing and performances come from human creators.
Instead, Larian uses AI as a support tool. The studio relies on it to brainstorm ideas, build PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art, and draft placeholder text.
Vincke acknowledged there was some internal resistance at first, but said most of the team is now comfortable with how the technology is being used.
These remarks sparked backlash in the gaming community. One viral tweet accused the studio bosses of, “happily announcing how they’re putting concept artists out of a job.”
Another immediately called their upcoming game, Divinity, which was revealed at The Game Awards, “AI slop.”
However, Vincke is going on the offensive and denying any such claims.
Larian CEO denies “pushing hard” to replace artists with AI
In a post on X, Vincke referred to a GameSpot article from earlier in 2025 about how the team is using AI.
“Holy f**k guys we’re not ‘pushing hard’ for or replacing concept artists with AI,” he blasted. “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.”
Related
“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.”
He continued, adding that in the earliest ideation phase, they use AI only as a loose compositional guide, which is then fully replaced with original concept art.
“There’s no comparison,” he said. “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.”
Larian StudiosBack in April, Vincke said Larian uses machine learning to automate tedious game-development tasks that “nobody wants to do.”
He reiterated how, “It’s always going to be the people that are going to make a difference,” further stating that “it’s super clear that we’re investing heavily into the team and the human touch that’s being added to that.”
While this controversy has engulfed the studio, Larian has promised big things for Divinity, claiming it will be “way better” than Baldur’s Gate 3.