The Divinity Developer Clarifies Its Use of Machine Learning for Next Divinity Game

The team behind hit role-playing games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin recently teased its upcoming project, generating a wave of hype within the gaming community. However, follow-up comments from the company's co-founder have introduced clarity to the narrative, addressing the developer's stance toward AI tools.

A Tool for Ideation, Not Replacement

In a new statement, Larian's director detailed that the team is using AI technology for specific ancillary tasks. These involve fleshing out presentation materials, producing rough visual ideas, and writing temporary copy.

Crucially, Vincke made clear that the end material in the game will be authored entirely by human creatives. "We are developing everything manually," he said.

Larian is continuously expanding our team of concept artists and are busily forming dedicated writer rooms.

Since this area is being specifically mentioned — we currently have twenty-three artistic staff and have roles to fill for further talent.

Everything we do is incremental and aimed at enabling creatives to spend more time on actual creation.

Any ML tool used well is additive to a artist's routine, never a stand-in for their craft.

Tempering Reactions with Clear Intent

The revelation of employing this technology originally generated unease among some the player base. In reaction, Vincke offered further detail on online platforms.

"At Larian, we employ these tools to gather inspiration, just like we use the internet and reference books," he stated. "In the initial brainstorming phase we use it as a rough outline for structure which we then substitute with hand-crafted illustrations."

He added, "Our studio recruits artists for their unique talent, not for their willingness to replicate what a machine suggests."

Three Pillars of Practical Application

Vincke had in the past broken down the studio's targeted approach to machine learning, defining its use into three main areas:

• Handling Monotonous Jobs: Areas like polishing mocap data, audio processing, and pipeline-specific tasks like adjusting assets for various species.
• Rapid Prototyping ('White Boxing'): Using tools to speedily create simple versions of scenarios to validate concepts before full development.
• Long-Term Aspirations: Researching how AI could in the future enhance new forms of reactivity, particularly in simulating dynamic reactions in a detailed game universe.

He specifically affirmed that core creative disciplines — like visual art — are not areas where the studio is reducing creative involvement. On the contrary, Larian is expanding its staff in these exact fields.

"We are neither shipping a game with AI-generated content, nor looking at reducing teams to swap them out with AI," Vincke summarized.