Days after his comments on AI ignited a firestorm, Larian Studios cofounder Swen Vincke has elaborated on the RPG maker’s current philosophy on the controversial technology, with plans for an AMA next year to address fan concerns in more detail.
“Our successes come from empowering people to work in their own way and bring the best out of their skill & craft, so that we can make the best RPGs we can possibly make,” he posted on X on Thursday. “In that context, it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies. However, our processes are always evolving, and where they are not efficient or fail to align with who we are, we will make changes.”
It’s been a week since we announced Divinity, our next RPG, and a lot has become lost in translation.
Larian’s DNA is agency. Everything we work towards is to the benefit of our teams, games, and players. A better work day, and a better game. Our successes come from empowering…
— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) December 18, 2025
The new statement comes days after Larian began facing a heated backlash over the studio’s experimentation with generative AI. Vincke told Bloomberg the company was using it for some placeholder text, meeting presentations, and concept art references. He was adamant that it was not being used to undercut human creativity and would not appear in finished games like Larian’s recently revealed RPG sequel Divinity.
But many fans were disappointed, and some even outraged, citing ethical concerns around how AI relies on copying existing artists’ work and worries about Larian’s critically acclaimed output becoming marred by the introduction, even if only a little bit, of AI slop into the development pipeline.
“Holy fuck guys we’re not ‘pushing hard’ for or replacing concept artists with AI,” responded Vincke at the time on X. “We’ve hired creatives for their talent, not for their ability to do what a machine suggests, but they can experiment with these tools to make their lives easier.”
The controversy surrounding the studio’s stance on AI didn’t subside, however. Vincke later updated his social media profile signaling that he was listening to the feedback and planning a new response. While the CEO’s latest statement doesn’t walk back any of his prior commitments to explore how AI could potentially benefit Larian’s design process, he’s promised further context about his thoughts on AI and exactly how the studio is using it in a January AMA on Reddit.
Here’s Vincke’s full statement:
It’s been a week since we announced Divinity, our next RPG, and a lot has become lost in translation.
Larian’s DNA is agency. Everything we work towards is to the benefit of our teams, games, and players. A better work day, and a better game. Our successes come from empowering people to work in their own way and bring the best out of their skill & craft, so that we can make the best RPGs we can possibly make.
In that context, it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies. However, our processes are always evolving, and where they are not efficient or fail to align with who we are, we will make changes.
To give you more insight, we’ll do an AMA featuring our different departments after the holiday break, in which you’ll get the opportunity to ask us any questions you have about Divinity and our dev process directly.
We’ll announce the date in the new year. In the meantime, I wish you all happy holidays!
Update 12/18/2025, 2:10 p.m. ET: Added more context.
