The Creators of Baldur's Gate 3 Explains Its Use of Generative AI for Next Divinity Game
The studio behind acclaimed titles like Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin just teased its new project, creating a wave of anticipation within the gaming community. However, recent comments from the studio's co-founder have brought nuance to the narrative, touching on the studio's approach toward generative artificial intelligence.
Augmenting Workflows, Not Cutting Jobs
In a latest statement, the studio's founder detailed that the team is using generative AI for particular supporting tasks. These involve developing PowerPoint slides, creating initial artistic references, and creating temporary text.
Crucially, Vincke stressed that the shipping material in the game will be authored solely by real creatives. "We are writing every line manually," he affirmed.
Larian is continuously growing our roster of storytellers and are busily forming writing teams.
Since visual development is being explicitly mentioned — we currently have twenty-three artistic staff and have positions available for more talent.
All our efforts we do is incremental and focused on having people spend more time on making content.
Any ML tool applied correctly is a boost to a developer's process, never a stand-in for their skill.
Tempering Reactions with Clear Intent
The news of employing this technology at first sparked backlash among portions of the player base. In response, Vincke issued further elaboration on online platforms.
"We use these tools to gather inspiration, just like we use Google and reference books," he wrote. "During the initial planning process we use it as a rough outline for layout which we then substitute with original artwork."
He continued, "We've hired artists for their unique talent, not for their ability to replicate what a AI generates."
Key Areas of AI Integration
Vincke had earlier outlined the company's focused approach to this technology, grouping its use into three main areas:
- Handling Monotonous Jobs: This encompasses motion capture cleaning, dialogue cleanup, and pipeline-specific tasks like adjusting assets for various species.
- Fast-Tracked Experimentation: Using tools to quickly build simple mock-ups of scenarios to validate concepts prior to expensive implementation.
- Future Potential for Gameplay: Researching how AI could in the future facilitate emergent player agency, specifically in managing player-driven narratives in a detailed game universe.
He specifically stated that central narrative disciplines — including writing — are not fields where the team is reducing human talent. On the contrary, Larian is expanding its staff in these precise fields.
"Larian is not releasing a game with any AI components, nor considering reducing creatives to swap them out with AI," Vincke stated definitively.
