Swen Vincke promises an AMA to clear up Larian’s use of generative AI: ‘You’ll get the opportunity to ask us any questions you have about Divinity and our dev process directly’

XIt’s been a bad few days for Larian Studios and CEO Swen Vincke. Instead of basking in the glory of its first post-Baldur’s Gate 3 project, revealed at The Game Awards as Divinity, the studio has been dealing with the ugly aftermath of Vincke’s comments about the use of generative AI at Larian. In a new effort to set the record straight, Vincke said today that Larian will hold an AMA in the new year, giving gamers an opportunity to learn more about how developers at Larian actually get things done.

Larian’s AI controversy erupted earlier this week in the wake of a Bloomberg interview in which Vincke touched on some of the ways developers at the studio are making use of generative AI tools. He made clear that the studio isn’t using generative AI for any in-game content, like art, writing, or voices, but that did little good: The backlash against what was perceived as Larian’s pro-AI stance was immediate and fierce.

Vincke tried to smooth things out with a subsequent post on X in which he was more specific about how exactly Larian developers use generative AI, but that did not satisfy many of the studio’s fans. So now the plan is to let the developers themselves jump into the fray.

“Larian’s DNA is agency,” Vincke wrote on X. “Everything we work towards is to the benefit of our teams, games, and players. A better work day, and a better game. Our successes come from empowering people to work in their own way and bring the best out of their skill & craft, so that we can make the best RPGs we can possibly make.

“In that context, it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies. However, our processes are always evolving, and where they are not efficient or fail to align with who we are, we will make changes. To give you more insight, we’ll do an AMA featuring our different departments after the holiday break, in which you’ll get the opportunity to ask us any questions you have about Divinity and our dev process directly.”

(Image credit: Swen Vincke (Twitter))

It’s been interesting to watch the ferocity of the blowback against Vincke’s AI comments—it was just a year ago, after all, that he received widespread plaudits for calling out the failures of the game industry in a speech at The Game Awards.

Whether this AMA will change any minds is an open question at this point, but my own inclination is to give Vincke and Larian the benefit of the doubt for now: I’m no fan of generative AI and I think the headlong pursuit of “artificial intelligence” in a wider context is reckless at best, but I’m willing to at least hear more about the specific tools being used and the attitudes of Larian’s artists before writing the whole studio off. At the very least, this AMA should allow for some nuance in the conversation, and help us all form more well-considered opinions about how much this sucks.

Vincke said a date for Larian’s AI AMA will be announced in the new year.

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