"Show your employees some respect": Former Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity devs claim Larian heads are "lying about people being okay" with using AI

Larian Studios, the developer behind Baldur's Gate 3 and the upcoming Divinity game, is facing backlash following CEO Swen Vincke's statements on the use of generative AI – but that's not all, as former employees are sharing their own thoughts now.

It's been a wild week for Larian, between the reveal of its new Divinity entry at The Game Awards 2025 and the subsequent controversy over Vincke's words on AI – words in which he says "at this point everyone at the company is more or less OK with the way" Larian uses the technology. He later expanded on this, stating devs only employ AI during "the very early ideation stages" and not for the final product.

Publishing director Michael 'Cromwelp' Douse spoke out on the matter, too, explaining that Larian devs "don't use AI for art" and admitting, "I'm not entirely sure we are the ideal target for the level of scorn." Despite this, the community is still sharing its frustrations regarding any AI being on the table at all – and this apparently includes former studio employees as well. Anne Méthot, who worked as a QA tester at Larian for four years, is one example.

"LOL. As someone who's worked there four years, I'm not surprised," she writes in a post, responding to Vincke's initial statement on AI – specifically the part about "everyone at the company" not minding using the tech. "He's lying about people being okay with it," claims the former dev, who now works for Big Fan Games and Good Shepherd Entertainment. She isn't the only ex-Larian employee to feel this way, either.

Selena Tobin, who acted as a junior 3D environment artist at Larian for about a year and a half (as per her LinkedIn) and now works with League of Legends developer Riot Games, has a thread of her own in which she replies to Vincke's words. "Consider my feedback: I loved working at Larian Studios until AI. Reconsider and change your direction, like, yesterday. Show your employees some respect."

consider my feedback: i loved working at @larianstudios.com until AI. reconsider and change your direction, like, yesterday. show your employees some respect. they are world-class & do not need AI assistance to come up with amazing ideas.

— @anoxicart.bsky.social (@anoxicart.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-12-17T16:34:18.559Z

Tobin concludes with her thoughts on the current Larian devs, saying, "They are world-class and do not need AI assistance to come up with amazing ideas." Countless other posts show fans – and folks who claim to have some sort of previous experience with Larian – agreeing with the sentiment that the studio is good enough without AI and shouldn't use it in any capacity, and it's not all that surprising to see.

Generative AI has a rocky reputation, at best, with most people, thanks to how it grabs from all sorts of sources – with permission or not – to produce responses or artwork. Here's hoping everything smooths out on the Larian side of things, though… Divinity's underway, after all.

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