"It doesn't": Larian's writing director shuts the door on AI-generated text
Larian made its position clear in a recent Divinity AMA: no AI art, no AI concept art, and no AI-generated text-not even as placeholders. Writing director Adam Smith didn't mince words about AI copy helping development: "It doesn't."
For writers, this isn't just studio policy-it's a practical lesson in quality, process, and protecting voice. Here's what matters and how to apply it.
What Larian actually said
- "We don't have any text generation touching our dialogues, journal entries or other writing in Divinity."
- On AI placeholders versus simple stubs: "It doesn't [help]."
- Internal experiments scored "3/10 at best." Smith says even his worst first drafts are "at least a 4/10."
- Getting a single line to ship-worthy quality takes heavy iteration with "many eyes and hands."
The studio is exploring machine learning for animation cleanup and resizing, but not for writing. That line is firm.
Why this matters for professional writers
"Good enough" placeholders are a trap. If the baseline is a 3/10, your team pays the tax later: more edits, more reworks, and more time rebuilding voice from scratch. You don't accelerate; you stall.
It also breaks trust. Voice is fragile. Once generic filler seeps into drafts, it spreads. The fix is simple: keep placeholders dumb and obvious, then write the real line fast.
A practical playbook you can steal
- Set a quality bar: Use a 1-10 rubric for flavor, clarity, and intent. 6/10 is the minimum for anything leaving a draft.
- Ban AI placeholders in narrative: Use clear stubs like [BARK: guard warns player] or [NPC: refuses deal with sarcasm]. Then write it properly.
- Short iteration loops: Draft → peer pass → lead pass → table read → final polish. No skipped steps.
- Voice bible: Keep examples of "yes" lines and "never" lines. Update weekly.
- Line surgery, not paragraphs: Fix at the sentence level. If a line feels generic, rewrite it entirely.
- Protect attention: Timebox first drafts. Speed beats overthinking.
- Use automation outside prose: Formatting, consistency checks, versioning, localization QA-yes. Line writing-no.
The bigger signal for teams
Larian's stance says a lot about hiring and process. You win with taste, iteration, and collaboration-not by outsourcing voice. Tools don't replace the writer's judgment; they support the pipeline around it.
If you lead a writers' room, make the cost of "bad placeholders" visible. Track time-to-quality per line. You'll see the compounding effect of clean stubs and fast human drafts.
Context from the AMA
Beyond writing, Larian reiterated no return of Original Sin 2's flawless armor system and shared thoughts on handling save scumming in design. The throughline: intentional constraints create better player experiences-and better workflows.
Where to look next
- Larian Studios - official site
- Responsible AI upskilling for teams (focus on tools that support production, not replace voice)
Bottom line: AI-generated text didn't save Larian time because it couldn't clear the quality bar. Keep your placeholders minimal, your drafts human, and your iteration tight. That's how you ship writing that lasts.
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