Legendary D&D designer tells Baldur's Gate 3 dev's AI critics to "maybe lighten up on the creatives who work their a*ses off day in and day out"

Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian has been taking a lot of heat after revealing it's using AI for concept art and placeholder text in the new Divinity, even though it also assured fans there won't be any AI-generated content in the final game. Now, one of the most venerable names in the D&D community is stepping up in support of Larian.

Robert Kuntz, one of the original D&D authors and designers whose work was foundational to the franchise and RPGs in general in the '70s, shared a tweet in defense of Larian and CEO Swen Vincke.

"Fans of [Larian], Hey maybe lighten up on the creatives who work their arses off day in and day out?" said Kuntz. "Just a suggestion. It's sorta disappointing to see [Vincke] treated like some sort of outsider. I extend my personal well-wishes to the studio for their continued success."

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In a separate, lengthier tweet, Kuntz sweepingly labeled criticisms of Larian as "eye-popping rage bait" from people with "bad actor syndrome." He also suggested that RPG and D&D fans should be more appreciative of the people who produce the games they enjoy.

"The RPG gaming community, which I helped create and nurture 1972-1974+ onward, used to be a lot more appreciative of and civil with the creators of their hobby," he said.

AI is obviously an extremely hot button issue right now, and Vincke himself has acknowledged that it "invokes a lot of emotion," insisting that Larian is only using it to better understand "the cutting edge." Just today, he said "a lot has become lost in translation" regarding his previous AI comments, and "it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies," and that an AMA is coming to help explain what the heck is going on. Because wouldn't we all like to know that?

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 lead says AI "may mean the demise of humanity" and the "end of most big publishers," but if "AI can help me make an epic game in a year with a smaller team like in the old days, I'm all for it."