Baldur's Gate 3 Publishing Director Makes Scathing Criticism of AI Artists

The publishing director at Larian Studios, the development studio behind Baldur's Gate 3, has shared a scathing criticism of AI artists. The Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director is just one of the latest members of the gaming industry to state an opinion on the technology.
AI has become a daily part of life for many people, and much of the gaming industry is moving towards integrating it into how developers work on their games. However, opinions in the industry have varied wildly on the technology, with people like the vice president general manager of DICE calling AI seducing, while others have turned their back on the tech entirely.
Now, a member of the Baldur's Gate 3 team has stated that they dislike the "AI artists" that have emerged all over the internet. Michael Douse, the publishing director of Larian Studios, made a tweet stating that he finds AI artists to be "insufferable," saying that he has "yet to see a new idea that wasn't just LinkedIn copypasta." In a follow-up tweet, he added that "if someone evangelised a spanner with the same vigor they'd be put in a home."
Baldur's Gate 3 notably began its development back in 2017, years before ChatGPT and other LLMs were available to the public. However, those who brought Baldur's Gate 3 to life have been pretty critical of generative AI in the past. While Larian CEO Swen Vincke has stated that he thinks AI could be useful in will encourage developers to do more and automate some elements of development, he also said that the common claim that AI will make game development quicker is "naive." The actors who portrayed Karlach and Astarion in the game, Samantha Béart and Neil Newbon respectively, have spoken out against the technology. Béart stated that "people with money, who don't play games, see it as an easy way to make a return on investment." Meanwhile, Newbon questioned where the joy is in using AI.
At the moment, there's a lot of debate surrounding AI and its role in the gaming industry. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has said that the company is all-in on AI, while Electronic Arts developers have been frustrated by their own company pushing them to use the technology. Meanwhile, the use of AI in Arc Raiders has led to debate online, and one player got a refund from Steam because they objected to the use of AI in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. There's no single consensus on the use of AI in gaming on either the side of developers or gamers themselves, and that's unlikely to change anytime soon.