Baldur's Gate 3 Studio Announces AI-Free Concept Art and Writing Policy

In an effort to clear up recent misunderstandings, Larian Studios, the minds behind Baldur's Gate 3, made clear their position regarding generative AI technologies during a recent Reddit AMA.

CEO Swen Vincke and his team utilized the platform to respond to community inquiries about the upcoming game Divinity and to clarify their policies on AI usage amid circulating reports. Vincke straightforwardly stated that 'Divinity will not include any GenAI assistance for art purposes.'

Addressing AI Controversy

Previously, in a discussion with Bloomberg, Vincke shared that while AI-generated content was absent from their projects, Larian was experimenting with AI-driven ideas for internal presentations, preliminary concept drafts, and placeholder text. This sparked heated debates among gamers and industry professionals.

Vincke recently emphasized they have ceased using generative AI in concept art creation entirely to prevent any ambiguity about their artworks' merits and authenticity.

Possible Future Uses of AI

Although Larian Studios is currently steering clear of AI for concept art, Vincke hinted that the studio might consider using AI models to create game assets later on, provided they are trained with proprietary data.

Current Status of AI in Game Development

Besides art, Larian also outlined their position on textual AI integration. Vincke said no automated text generation influences the games' dialogues or written content—these were purely exploratory efforts.

Internally, small teams evaluated text creation tools, but the results fell short of Larian’s standards. According to a staff member, even their least polished drafts outperformed AI-generated texts significantly, suggesting human creativity remains superior.

AI's Role Moving Forward

Vincke concluded by acknowledging that although AI forms no part of Larian’s current game assets, its potential to expedite ideation and streamline development processes remains something they aim to tap into, eventually enhancing the quality and precision of their offerings.