One of the largest controversies in gaming in the final days of 2025 was the news that Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios was using generative AI for ideation while developing its upcoming RPG Divinity.
The debacle began when a Bloomberg interview with studio CEO Swen Vincke suggested “Larian has been pushing hard on generative AI,” with both Vincke and publishing director Michael Douse later explaining the developer isn’t “pushing hard” for AI and was offering it as an optional tool for concept artists to quickly mock up reference images. It was also stated that nothing AI generated will be in Divinity itself.
This is good news for those who took issue with the way Larian was using generative AI for concept art development, though notably, the studio hasn’t stopped experimenting with the technology altogether, with Vincke explaining that it believes AI can help the developer quickly try out ideas.
“Having said that, we continuously try to improve the speed with which we can try things out. The more iterations we can do, the better in general the gameplay is,” he wrote. “We think GenAI can help with this and so we’re trying things out across departments. Our hope is that it can aid us to refine ideas faster, leading to a more focused development cycle, less waste, and ultimately, a higher-quality game.”
Previously, the CEO commented that “it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies” as Larian pursues avenues to empower its developers and improve the studio’s workflows.
Interestingly, Vincke also suggested the possibility that AI-generated content could make its way into Divinity after all, but only if the data and content the AI was trained on came from Larian’s own creations. This contrasts with the studio’s earlier stance that the RPG wouldn’t have any AI-generated content whatsoever.
“The important bit to note is that we will not generate ‘creative assets’ that end up in a game without being 100% sure about the origins of the training data and the consent of those who created the data,” he explained. “If we use a GenAI model to create in-game assets, then it’ll be trained on data we own.”
Ultimately, it’s good that Larian is being transparent about its dabblings with generative AI, though the news that it’s still experimenting with it even after vowing not to use it for concept art will undoubtedly disappoint many. If the developer does end up using AI to generate content for Divinity using the studio’s own data, I hope it’s something that its employees, and not just its executives, are okay with.
Are you glad to hear that Larian is no longer using generative AI for concept art development? How would you feel about the developer using it to make content for Divinity if it was trained exclusively on Larian’s own data? Let me know in the comments.
Follow Windows Central on Google News to keep our latest news, insights, and features at the top of your feeds!