Key Highlights:
- Baldur’s Gate 3 fans were thrown in for a toss when developer Larian Studios endorsed the use of AI in games.
- Like most cases, the internet was quick to jump into criticism.
- CEO Swen Vincke has clarified that they do not intend to remove human artists from the equation.
Fans were thrown in a frenzy after the team behind Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios, recently unveiled their grand plans of incorporating AI into the game development process for the upcoming Divinity game.
Naturally, many have not taken to this very well, with fans calling out Larian for its usage of AI, which many consider to be unethical. That being said, Larian’s CEO Swen Vincke offered an explanation for this, which does appear to be quite reasonable.
Larian Studios’ CEO Swen Vincke Defends Usage of Generative AI in Games
Speaking out against the severe backlash faced by Larian Studios with regards to using generative AI within their games, CEO Swen Vincke lambasted naysayers, remarking that there were in no way forcing AI into their games (and preserving the input of real artists).
This also extends into its ethical usage, and Larian has confirmed that AI will only be used as an idea mixer of sorts, which can be used to procedurally generate concepts and basic structures, from which the team could then take ‘inspiration’ from and develop their own version of the take, crafted entirely by human hands.
To be clear once more, Larian mentions that they hired creative talents for their work and have no intention of replacing them with AI. Human artists will continue to not be replaced, and this move is something that should be commended as the proper usage of AI tools.
Ethical Usage Isn’t Something We Should Shy Away From
AI is a very powerful tool, and it isn’t right to demonize every mention of it. When used correctly, it can be used to accelerate workflows and in certain cases, even serve as direct sources for reference.
The usage of AI in video games for example, could be very transformative, stripping away the often dull and bogged down process of establishing a game’s fundamentals to its bare essentials.
From here, a team could very easily automate most of the workload, while still maintaining their creative freedom. It is precisely this workflow that Larian Studios hopes to achieve, and can be best described as the ‘ethical’ use of generative AI.
It is this implementation that we should strive for.
Like with any modern piece of tech though, it will always be exploited for the wrong reasons. The current usage of AI is nothing short of distrustful, abhorrent and even unethical. Most importantly, it is also rarely useful, making an over reliance on AI all the more perilous in the long term.
Also Read: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Was Amazing, But Hades 2 Should Have Won GoTY Instead; Here’s Why
AI generated assets turn out to be nothing more than low effort, plagiarized copies of already existing material. Unless an asset has been refined by human hands, it just seems to be of poor quality and deserving of the term, ‘AI slop’.
That being said, AI is going to be here, for better or worse so it’s only fair that game studios will start to embrace it and integrate it into their workflows, on fear of being left behind.
There is a fine line present, and one that we are treading all too lightly. The only hope is that everyone wakes up and realizes this sooner or later, enacting some ground rules and laws in place.
