Larian Studios boss responds to backlash about AI use in its games

Larian CEO and director Swen Vincke recently revealed that Larian uses AI in concept work, but clarified that it wasn't using AI to replace jobs.

It’s been a whirlwind for Larian Studios over the last week following the reveal that the company has used generative AI in the conceptual phases of its game development. The group announced the next Divinity RPG at The Game Awards to applause, but now finds itself under fire for use of the controversial tech. More recently, Larian CEO and director Swen Vincke attempted to clarify the matter, aggressively claiming that the studio wasn’t leaning on AI to replace jobs that would have gone to real people.

Vincke responded via his own personal social media following the backlash to a Bloomberg report that was published earlier this week. In the original report, when asked about AI, Vincke revealed that Larian used the tech “to explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art and write placeholder text,” and that “everyone at the company is more or less OK with the way we’re using it.” That led to a massive backlash as fans went at the group about destroying creative jobs and the creative process by handing it over to technology, which prompted Vincke’s social media response.

In a lengthy tweet following the backlash, Vincke attempted to clarify Larian’s use of generative AI further, claiming that the company isn’t pushing to replace concept artists with AI and further claiming that the group mostly uses AI for organizational purposes.

The negative response to AI has been growing in most creative communities. It’s been fairly often that we’ve seen legal issues with the tech, where groups like OpenAI have increasingly found themselves in court over copyright infringement. The common knowledge that generative AI needs works from references has rubbed many the wrong way, especially considering that the references used have often been unapproved by the creators. However, journalist Gene Park also points out that The Game Awards 2025 big winner Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 also used AI in some of its earliest stages, and Sandfall was even caught letting AI-generated placeholder material into the post-release game before it was patched out, to much quieter outrage.

Ultimately, the degree to which generative AI is used continues to be a much debated topic. It seems many developers are adopting the technology to some degree or another, and where that crosses a line seems nebulous for many. Either way, Larian seems to be committed to using it for the early stages of its games. Stay tuned the Larian Studios topic as we continue to follow this story.