The Divinity Developer Explains Its Use of Machine Learning for Upcoming Divinity Game

The studio behind popular RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin recently unveiled its upcoming project, sparking a wave of anticipation within the player base. However, subsequent comments from the company's co-founder have introduced nuance to the conversation, touching on the studio's philosophy toward AI tools.

AI as a Creative Assistant, Not a Substitute

In a new message, Larian's director outlined that the team is using generative AI for particular supporting tasks. These encompass enhancing presentation materials, generating initial concept art, and writing placeholder text.

Importantly, Vincke emphasized that the shipping assets in the game will be created solely by human writers. "Larian is writing everything in-house," he affirmed.

Our studio is continuously expanding our pool of storytellers and are currently putting together narrative groups.

As this area is being explicitly mentioned — we currently have twenty-three artistic staff and have roles to fill for further artists.

Each initiative we do is additive and aimed at letting our team spend additional energy on actual creation.

Every ML tool implemented properly is supplementary to a artist's routine, never a stand-in for their skill.

Responding to Feedback and Defining the Path

The revelation of using AI at first provoked backlash among some the community. In response, Vincke provided further detail on online platforms.

"At Larian, we employ these tools to explore references, just like we use the internet and physical media," he stated. "In the very early brainstorming phase we use it as a rough outline for structure which we then replace with hand-crafted concept art."

He added, "Larian brings on creatives for their inherent skill, not for their ability to follow what a AI generates."

Focused Uses for Machine Learning

Vincke had previously outlined the company's targeted approach to this technology, categorizing its use into key functions:

• Automation of Tedious Tasks: This includes motion capture cleaning, voice editing, and Larian-specific work like adjusting assets for various species.
• Rapid Prototyping ('White Boxing'): Using systems to speedily create basic models of scenarios to test concepts prior to expensive development.
• Experimental Frontiers: Investigating how AI could eventually facilitate innovative reactivity, specifically in simulating player-driven narratives in a vast role-playing world.

He clearly affirmed that key artistic disciplines — including music composition — are not departments where the team is reducing artistic input. On the contrary, Larian is actively hiring in these very positions.

"Our studio is not releasing a game with machine-made assets, and we are certainly not considering cutting creatives to replace them with artificial intelligence," Vincke summarized.