Larian CEO Swen Vincke Responds to AI Backlash for New Game Divinity

Divinity is set up to be the next smash hit for Larian Studios, but their CEO Swen Vincke found himself having to calm down fans after a comment he made in an interview earlier this week about the use of AI in the upcoming game. Vincke in an interview with Bloomberg had said the studio was using AI to “to explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art and write placeholder text,” though he insisted no AI generated content would make the final game.

Taken Out of Context or Caught in the Act?

With everyone on high alert about the use of AI in games, Vincke posted a statement in response to the criticism that was coming from players and former developers on social media about potential AI uses in the game.

“Holy fuck guys we’re not ‘pushing hard’ for or replacing concept artists with AI,” he wrote. “We have a team of 72 artists of which 23 are concept artists and we are hiring more. The art they create is original and I’m very proud of what they do.

“I was asked explicitly about concept art and our use of Gen AI. I answered that we use it to explore things. I didn’t say we use it to develop concept art. The artists do that. And they are indeed world class artists.”

AI in gaming has become a hot bed recently, with the website Totally Human noting that in 2025 the number of Steam games disclosing the use of generative AI had increased 800% from last year noting that 8000 titles have released on Steam with GenAI usage in 2025.

Where are you on the AI debate in gaming? Does the idea of AI being in Divinity ruin your hype for the game? Hop into our Discord and let us know!