Larian exploring artificial intelligence doesn't make them evil, says a fellow game developer

Backlash after Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke admitted his studio is exploring the use of AI, particularly generative AI, during the development of the recently announced Divinity continues to dominate the gaming industry. That said, a fellow CEO and developer offered a bit of defense in what was an increasingly difficult situation for studios and publishers.

Astronauts CEO Adrian Chmielarz, head of the team that brought games like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter to gamers, recently spoke with TechRaptor about the unenviable situation Vincke finds himself in.

Specifically, Chmielarz claimed that Larian “had a bit of bad luck” with his messages, which he later clarified.

“[Larian] he was a bit unlucky,” Chmielarz said. “I think Larian is definitely not evil. I can see that from what they wrote [on Dec 18] that…they're looking deeply into exactly what this will mean for Larian in the future, so we'll see what happens.'

Arc Raiders AI voice acting is a bigger deal than you think

Embark Studios has been vocal about the use of AI voice acting in Arc Raiders.

Vincke says that Divinity's final product will be AI-free, but that it's used for tasks that “nobody wants to do,” including things like “cleaning up motion-captured data” and “automatic redirection” that ultimately help streamline processes.

Continuing on, Chmielarz noted that when the day comes when AI-generated concept art becomes “excellent,” it will be up to the “studio to decide how much AI it wants to invite into its development process.”

However, this invitation does not exist for Chmielarz.

“With Witchfire, that door is firmly shut,” Chmielarz said of his studio's game-in-progress. “We started the game before the AI even existed, and we'll finish it without the AI creating a single element.”

While fans were understandably upset, other studio executives were far less critical of the use of AI

After comments that set the collective gaming world on fire, other studio heads had their own take on the AI debate, including Warhorse Studios boss Daniel Varva, whose team submitted Game of the Year nominee Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

“I'm not a fan of AI-generated art, but anyway, it's time to face reality. AI is here to stay,” Vávra wrote in part on Twitter. “As scary as it may be, it is. … If AI can help me create an epic game in a year with a smaller team like the old days, I'm all for it.”

Elsewhere, CD Projekt Red joint CEO Michał Nowakowski noted in the earnings call that there are “meaningful” benefits to using AI, before noting that the studio is using it in “productivity areas.” That's just a sampling of what was said in the hours and days following Vincke's comments.

While we're probably no closer to AI becoming more widely accepted, it seems that studios will be forced to admit which side they're on.