Larian CEO clarifies studio is “not replacing concept artists with AI”

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has clarified the developer’s position on using AI in its creative process following backlash to a recent interview with Bloomberg.

In a post to social media, Vincke said Larian is “not replacing concept artists with AI” and that the developer uses it “to explore things.”

“I didn’t say we use it to develop concept art. The artists do that,” he said. “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. There is no comparison.”

Vincke concluded: “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.”

In the original interview, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier wrote about how Larian “has been pushing hard on generative AI” under Vincke.

He noted that Larian uses AI tools “to explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art, and write placeholder text.”

Schreier has since shared the rough transcript of his conversation with Vincke so “people can see all the context and judge for themselves if they feel Larian’s position was misrepresented.”

In the transcript, Vincke said that using AI tools speeds production up as it allows for broader experimentation.

“It’s not as if their dialogues are suddenly being written faster,” he said. “On the contrary, it’s not as if you’re seeing scripting going faster. What’s happening is there’s just more stuff being done […] you still have to alter it yourself.”

Schreier pointed out that it didn’t seem efficient, to which Vincke replied: “This is a tech driven industry, so you try stuff. You can’t afford not to try things because if somebody finds the golden egg and you’re not using it, you’re dead in this industry.”

Towards the end of the excerpt, Schreier noted the downsides to generative AI such as it being “poisonous, controversial to players, to artists, [and] to creative people in a way that other tech isn’t.”

Vincke responded: “I think you would find the same argument back in the days for a lot of things. Part of this job is to make sure that you are competitive and state of the art. So if you don’t look at the state of the art, you will eventually regret it. That’s gonna be even worse for developers.”