The Divinity Developer Clarifies Its Use of Generative AI for Next Divinity Game
The team behind hit titles like Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin just shown its upcoming project, sparking significant anticipation within the industry. However, recent statements from the company's lead designer have added a new dimension to the narrative, focusing on the team's stance toward AI tools.
AI as a Creative Assistant, Not a Substitute
In a new message, the studio's founder detailed that the company is utilizing AI technology for particular supporting tasks. These encompass fleshing out pitch decks, generating initial visual ideas, and writing temporary dialogue.
Importantly, Vincke stressed that the final material in the game will be created entirely by human creatives. "Our team is developing everything manually," he affirmed.
Larian is actively expanding our pool of concept artists and are actively forming narrative groups.
Since visual development is being explicitly called out — we right now have 23 concept artists and have roles to fill for further artists.
All our efforts we do is supplementary and focused on letting our team spend additional energy on making content.
Every AI system used well is supplementary to a developer's process, not a replacement for their talent.
Responding to Feedback and Defining the Path
The news of AI usage originally provoked backlash among portions of the community. In reaction, Vincke issued more detail on public forums.
"At Larian, we employ machine learning to research ideas, just like we use search engines and reference books," he stated. "During the initial planning process we use it as a basic framework for layout which we then substitute with hand-crafted artwork."
He added, "Larian brings on artists for their unique talent, not for their capacity to execute what a machine suggests."
Key Areas of AI Integration
Vincke had earlier outlined the company's focused method to AI and ML, grouping its use into three main pillars:
- Handling Monotonous Jobs: This includes motion capture cleaning, voice editing, and Larian-specific work like adjusting assets for various species.
- Rapid Prototyping ('White Boxing'): Using systems to quickly build basic mock-ups of scenarios to validate concepts ahead of expensive production.
- Future Potential for Gameplay: Investigating how AI could in the future enhance emergent reactivity, especially in managing player-driven narratives in a vast role-playing world.
He explicitly affirmed that central narrative disciplines — like music composition — are are in no way areas where the studio is replacing human involvement. Conversely, Larian is recruiting more in these very fields.
"Larian is not launching a game with AI-generated content, and we are certainly not planning on reducing staff to swap them out with AI," Vincke summarized.
