Larian Studios, the Belgian indie powerhouse behind the critically acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3, found itself at the center of a heated controversy on December 16, 2025, just days after unveiling its next major project, a new entry in its flagship Divinity RPG series.

CEO Swen Vincke’s candid remarks in a Bloomberg interview about the studio’s use of generative AI sparked widespread backlash from fans, artists, and former employees, who accused the studio of hypocrisy and ethical lapses in an industry already divided over AI’s role in creative work.

Larian Studios rocketed to fame with Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023), a sprawling Dungeons & Dragons-based RPG that sold over 20 million copies, won multiple Game of the Year awards, and earned praise for its handcrafted storytelling, performances, and art.

After forgoing a sequel due to waning developer passion for the IP, Larian returned to its roots with Divinity, promising a “next level” turn-based RPG in its dark fantasy universe: “Everything you’ve seen from us in the past, but it’s brought to the next level.”

The Bloomberg piece painted an ambitious picture: a new engine, parallel quest development to shorten the six-year BG3 timeline to three or four years, expanded writing teams, and cinematic innovations where player choices yield wildly divergent narratives.

However, it was Vincke’s comments on AI that detonated the powder keg.

Vincke revealed that under his leadership, Larian has been “pushing hard on generative AI,” though he qualified that “it hasn’t led to big gains in efficiency.” Vincke explained that developers use the tools to “explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art and write placeholder text.” He emphasized that no AI-generated content would ship in Divinity and that “everything is human actors; we’re writing everything ourselves.”

Vincke acknowledged “some pushback” internally but claimed “at this point everyone at the company is more or less OK with the way we’re using it.”

This mirrored earlier, low-key admissions, like Vincke’s April comments on AI for prototyping mock levels (later replaced by handmade assets) and his view that AI-obsessed studios lack a competitive edge since the tools are ubiquitous.

The revelations ignited a swift inferno across social media. On X (formerly Twitter), former Larian QA producer Hanner (@GangstHannah), who worked there for four years on BG3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2, called out Vincke directly: “He’s lying about people being okay with it.”

In a thread, she lambasted the “plagiarism machine” for yielding no productivity while frustrating staff, accusing management of cheapness despite Larian’s good studio image.

Former BG3 artist Selena Tobin posted on Bluesky: “Consider my feedback: I loved working at Larian until AI… reconsider and change your direction, like, yesterday. Show your employees some respect.”

Meanwhile, Reddit threads exploded with despair and accusations of betraying BG3’s human touch.

Critics highlighted ethical issues: AI models trained on “stolen” artist data without consent, massive energy consumption, and the slippery slope toward job losses, even if limited to ideation.

Larian’s prior anti-AI stance amplified the hypocrisy charge. Publishing director Michael Douse had slammed AI artists as “insufferable” in November 2025, calling their ideas “LinkedIn copypasta.”

Vincke responded hours later on X/Twitter with an exasperated thread: “Holy fuck guys we’re not ‘pushing hard’ for or replacing concept artists with AI. We have a team of 72 artists of which 23 are concept artists and we are hiring more.” He clarified AI aids “very early ideation stages” for rough composition outlines.

“We use AI tools to explore references, just like we use google and art books. At the very early ideation stages we use it as a rough outline for composition which we replace with original concept art.”

In a statement to IGN, Vincke doubled down: “We are neither releasing a game with any AI components, nor are we looking at trimming down teams to replace them with AI.”

Per Vincke, machine learning is “additive to a creative team… not a replacement,” researched to “make their day-to-day lives easier.”

Larian, who are currently expanding writer rooms, casting actors, and hiring translators, told PC Gamer, via Vincke “I’m not entirely sure we are the ideal target for the level of scorn,” positioning Larian as cautious users versus mass-layoff enablers like EA, not to mention the ecological impacts to the planet.

Larian is not the only studio to openly discuss the use of Generative AI in its development processes. In 2025, Hideo Kojima (Death Stranding, and the upcoming OD: Knock, and Physint) discussed its potential as a tool over a replacement for creative content:

Speaking to Wired Japan Kojima said:

“A lot of people use AI in creative work to come up with ideas. But I think of AI as more of a friend… I would lead the creative part and use AI to boost efficiency. I’d like AI to handle the tedious tasks that would lower cost and cut down on time. It’s more like co-creating with AI instead of just using it.”

Meanwhile French studio Sandfall Interactive, creator of the most awarded title in Game Awards history (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, in case you’ve been living under a gaming rock this year) also admitted to using AI-generated placeholder assets in early development, along with Polish developer 11 Bit Studios for The Alters.

Standing alone against the softening of attitudes towards AI, Finnish game studio Remedy Entertainment based The Lake House, an Alan Wake 2 DLC, around the theme of generative AI to comedic and scathing effect in 2024.

The dust-up underscores gaming’s AI schism. Proponents see AI tools as efficiency boosters for drudgery. Detractors view them as stolen art, derivate slop generators, and theft-fueled job-killers, especially amid 2024-2025 layoffs.

Larian’s case (internal prototyping) sits in a gray zone, but its vocal fanbase, built on transparency via BG3 early access, has amplified the fallout.

As Divinity hype builds, the controversy tests Larian’s goodwill. Vincke insists AI frees creatives for “better games,” but skeptics argue even exploratory use normalizes exploitation.

Although this week’s conversation is unlikely to prompt fans to boycott Divinity on release, it has blown open a door to where the AI line is drawn. And who gets to draw it.