Alaknar
@Alaknar@sopuli.xyz
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 16 hours ago:
OK, yeah, I get what you mean now.
I don’t agree on a fundamental level, though. Anything and everything could go to shit at any time. You could get killed on a bus stop, your favourite grocery brand might be outed to be using slave labour, Larian could start using AI instead of human work for everything…
With that approach, might as well hide in the woods, disconnect from civilisation and wait for the world to end.
I personally reject that attitude. I think we should support what’s good while it’s good and stop supporting it when it goes bad. And, to me, the way Larian uses AI is not “it went bad already”. Like it or not, the tools exist. They’re everywhere. A single (small-ish) company rejecting its use out of principle is not going to make a dent on that, it won’t even be registered within the margin of error among the billions, if not trillions, of monthly impressions AI companies get from teenagers talking to chat-bots.
And even if it did, it doesn’t matter - AI companies are not making profit anyway. Actually, fewer users is better for them, because they’re actively losing money every time someone uses their product. The whole AI bubble is propped up on the largest circlejerk in history and users are the least important, if not flat out insignificant, aspect of it.
I think there are good ways to use AI. Like Corridor Crew, using it to create things that are just financially completely out of their range. It can allow people to bridge the gap between small and massive productions.
And don’t get me wrong, the fact that it’s originally trained on stolen data is important, but… Kind of irrelevant in this case - and that’s for two reasons:
- Companies like Corridor Crew mostly use AI that they self-train, which means that no stealing happens. We don’t know what Larian does.
- Even if Larian uses publicly available models that are trained on stolen data… fuck me, we should be going after the people who stole the data, not the end users!
Would I prefer if they didn’t use AI at all? Sure! But am I going to start shitting on the entire company just because they do? Hell no! Their products are still made with care and love and humanity at their core. Just listen to interviews from Jennifer English or Neil Newbon - they praise both the VO company and Larian for their amazing approach.
And finally - the “war on Larian” would make much more sense if we also learned that they’re firing concept artists - but they’re doing the opposite - they have open positions for concept artists, character artists, environment artists, etc., etc. They’re currently hiring these people!
So, yeah, it’s just a lot of noise over practically nothing, in my opinion.
- Comment on Larian CEO Responds to Divinity Gen AI Backlash: 'We Are Neither Releasing a Game With Any AI Components, Nor Are We Looking at Trimming Down Teams to Replace Them With AI' 18 hours ago:
It’s being used in the pre-concept art phase, which is when you grab literally anything to do a very generic “here’s my idea” demonstration. It can be a screenshot from a game you recently played, a cinema poster, a photo of your cat, something you found on DeviantArt or Pinterest, a doodle you made with a pencil, cloth fragment, an interesting rock you found on a stroll, simple render, anything.
But, getting all these takes a lot of time - you have something in your head and now you need to find an image or an item that will more or less represent it. So you spend hours on Google Images trying to refine your search, only so that you can then post it on the ideas board, and for it to be replaced completely by actual concept art.
This is where they’re utilising GenAI. And they’re not even replacing this process entirely, they’re using GenAI on top of everything else - basically, using all the tools available to speed up the process.
And, yes, sure, “it at least informs the concept art”, but that’s kind of the point of that entire phase of development. Concept art doesn’t grow in a void, the designers of the game are not the concept artists.
- Comment on Ulefone Armor 27T Pro - And why I'm not using after 3 months 19 hours ago:
Ulefone is a tiny Chinese company that employs between 500 and 1000 employees. It’s far, far, far from being a “corporation”.
They market themselves as approachable and say they have a 24/7 chat available. Sure, it’s probably a bot you’d start talking to, but potentially end up talking to a human.
But, well, you do you. Bought a phone, spent months troubleshooting on your own, and now want to stop using it completely - if you feel good about it, it’s all good.
But I were in your shoes, I’d probably at least see what happens if I contact support.
- Comment on Larian CEO Responds to Divinity Gen AI Backlash: 'We Are Neither Releasing a Game With Any AI Components, Nor Are We Looking at Trimming Down Teams to Replace Them With AI' 20 hours ago:
Yeah, you clearly have no clue what you’re talking about, but just want to be outraged.
No, that’s not what they’re using it for.
Pre-concept art phase is when you grab literally anything to do a very generic “here’s my idea” demonstration. It can be a screenshot from a game you recently played, a cinema poster, a photo of your cat, something you found on DeviantArt or Pinterest, a doodle you made with a pencil, cloth fragment, an interesting rock you found on a stroll, simple render, anything.
But, getting all these takes a lot of time - you have something in your head and now you need to find an image or an item that will more or less represent it. So you spend hours on Google Images trying to refine your search, only so that you can then post it on the ideas board, and for it to be replaced completely by actual concept art.
This is where they’re utilising GenAI. And they’re not even replacing this process entirely, they’re using GenAI on top of everything else - basically, using all the tools available to speed up the process.
Concept artists then still take over (they have 27 of them and open positions to hire more - right now) and create concept art, which is then turned into assets by appropriate artists (they have a bunch of open positions for artists right now as well).
All this anti-AI panic has blown this so far out of proportion that it’s almost comical.
- Comment on Ulefone Armor 27T Pro - And why I'm not using after 3 months 23 hours ago:
What did Ulefone say about these issues?
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
Yeah, I had trouble understanding your point. Could you elaborate?
- Comment on Larian CEO Responds to Divinity Gen AI Backlash: 'We Are Neither Releasing a Game With Any AI Components, Nor Are We Looking at Trimming Down Teams to Replace Them With AI' 1 day ago:
They’re not using AI for free assets.
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
Soo… “Larian just said they use AI, but corpos lie” - meaning they don’t use AI?
Because, considering they have active job openings for art and concept positions, we know they’re not replacing people with AI.
- Comment on Denmark wants to ban VPNs to unlock foreign, illegal streams – and experts are worried 1 day ago:
I hate journalism so much these days…
Random dude in the parliament: “Let’s all shit our pants.”
“Journalists”: “Denmark wants to shit its pants!!”
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
I feel like replacing low-quality, quick-and-dirty doodles (often by non-artist members of the team) with medium-quality AI is fine and doesn’t pose a threat to the job security of concept artists (as exemplified by Larian currently hiring more concept artists).
If you’re just against any use of GenAI, then I get it - it is controversial due to the way it’s trained, and I’d prefer if they weren’t using it, but at least in terms of “AI replacing humans” it’s a non-issue in this case.
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
It was a slip of the tongue because it was Swen himself posting that on social media, not a PR department.
However, he explained that the entirety of concept art is being made by humans - 27 of them right now, but they’re hiring more.
- Comment on The AI Backlash Is Here: Why Backlash Against Gemini, Sora, ChatGPT Is Spreading in 2025 - Newsweek 1 day ago:
What do you mean?? Elon has solved the critical problem of there not being a vaguely hot anime character in Grok users could talk to!
- Comment on Larian CEO Responds to Divinity Gen AI Backlash: 'We Are Neither Releasing a Game With Any AI Components, Nor Are We Looking at Trimming Down Teams to Replace Them With AI' 1 day ago:
No, it doesn’t.
Doodles are not concept art. Ideation is not concept art.
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
OK, let’s make this clear: do you think they’re using AI for making concept art?
And drop that LLM bit, it’s just tiring. It’s as old and tiresome as the “MS is paying you” bit.
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
I mean, if you just want to invent and imagine things and then get angry at them, go ahead.
I’m just trying to tell you that Larian isn’t replacing anything or anyone with AI, they’re using it to help with the foundational stage of some processes, which is how it’s supposed to be used. Throw shit at the wall and see what sticks, then work off of that.
Like… It’s hilarious to complain about their use of AI like that in the context of the fact that they currently employ 27 concept artists and are hiring more.
- Comment on Larian CEO Responds to Divinity Gen AI Backlash: 'We Are Neither Releasing a Game With Any AI Components, Nor Are We Looking at Trimming Down Teams to Replace Them With AI' 1 day ago:
What he actually said was that they use it in the “ideation” phase of concept art. Basically: throwing shit on the wall and seeing what sticks. After that, the process is taken over by any of their almost 30 concept artists on payroll.
- Comment on Larian CEO Responds to Divinity Gen AI Backlash: 'We Are Neither Releasing a Game With Any AI Components, Nor Are We Looking at Trimming Down Teams to Replace Them With AI' 1 day ago:
The actual quote from Swen is that they use it in the “ideation” phase of concept art. Basically: throwing shit on the wall and seeing what sticks. After that, the process is taken over by any of their almost 30 concept artists on payroll.
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
Larian: “We use cars to get to the gym”.
You: “The exercise at the gym stage is really crucial to building muscles. I don’t like cars and think that using it at such an important stage will inevitably mean it ends up influencing the training”.
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
Edit: Turns out Larian is going to use gen AI for concept art. I guess fuck all those concept artists trying to get entry level jobs. Very disappointed.
It’s misinformation. They have almost 30 concept artists employed. They use GenAI for quick ideation, not for concept art.
- Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’ 1 day ago:
Oh, stop with this nonsense.
They are employing almost 30 concept artists, their art style is extremely unique. Just look at the Elves in DOS2.
They use the tools available to them. If quick iteration of the “foundations” of ideas is improved by the use of GenAI, why not use it? It’s already integrated into the products they’re paying for (like Photoshop).
It’s like saying “they shouldn’t be using Google Images or artbooks when developing concept art”, it’s just silly.
- Comment on It just keeps getting worse - Firefox to "evolve into a modern AI browser" 1 day ago:
When talking about it earlier, they mentioned the integrated AI would be local-only… Which sounds better, but I doubt is even possible (imagine all the low-end devices attempting to generate a response or analyse the website on their 6-8-year old CPUs…).
- Comment on It will trickle down any second now 6 days ago:
When it comes to measuring their wealth it’s not real money.
This is not entirely correct.
As in: it’s technically correct, but practically they just use their equity as leverage for loans, turning them into cash without actually touching them. Oh, and since they took on debt, now they get to report that as a loss and get tax breaks. They can pay off the interest from whatever actual money they’re earning.
- Comment on US demands access to tourists' social media histories 1 week ago:
My favourite description: “US is 50 third world countries in a trench coat”.
- Comment on U.S. Pedestrian Deaths Up 77% Since 2009 & The Auto Industry Knew It Would Happen 1 week ago:
It relates to horrible, anti-human policies all around. For comparison: in the EU the number of pedestrian fatalities dropped by 40% in a similar period.
- Comment on Crucial is shutting down — because Micron wants to sell its RAM and SSDs to AI companies instead 1 week ago:
It’s good that you love that because you had no point
Only if you literally ignore the two points I was making, then yes.
A bunch of people achieving one single specific outcome is not competing with anyone.
What are you trying to say here?
- Comment on Hey look, a giant sign telling you to find a different job 1 week ago:
My sick?
- Comment on Crucial is shutting down — because Micron wants to sell its RAM and SSDs to AI companies instead 1 week ago:
I love how you completely ignored everything I said, and then reiterated your misguided point.
- Comment on Chumbawhatthefuck 1 week ago:
One of the MANY problems with this administration is that you see a post like this, and you genuinely cannot tell if this actually happened, or if it’s a joke.
- Comment on Crucial is shutting down — because Micron wants to sell its RAM and SSDs to AI companies instead 1 week ago:
Ordinary people made great use of the internet - but failed to make it really decentralized. Thus the enshittification of Reddit, Youtube, social media, and so forth
I don’t think one is related to the other.
Decentralisation doesn’t affect enshittification that much. Look at Lemmy and Fediverse in general - it’s federated… so what? The .world instance is by far the largest in the Fediverse. If the mods there go insane, like they did on Reddit, or if the admins decide to add monetisation to it… it just happens. There being other servers changes nothing for the users stuck on the .world server. Sure, they can create new accounts elsewhere, but that’s - in principle - no different than switching from Reddit to Lemmy.
On the other hand, look at Steam. Valve, the creators of Steam, has no “decentralisation” of their product, they’re the god emperor of everything in terms of how Steam operates. At face value, it’s the same exact product as, I don’t know, the Epic Store, and yet Steam is loved by gamers, while Epic is hated.
No, you can have centralised and not enshittified services just fine - as long as the goal is to provide the service, instead of “creating value for the shareholders”. As soon as that element comes in, there’s no stopping enshittification.
We can choose to embrace local LLM that is fully under our control, or cede ownership to the 1% forevermore.
Agreed.
- Comment on Crucial is shutting down — because Micron wants to sell its RAM and SSDs to AI companies instead 1 week ago:
You’re not training it from scratch, though. There are people, enthusiasts, doing it for you. I can fire up LM Studio and browse through thousands of models to then have a conversation with, or have them write stories, etc., etc.
As for “nothing of economic value” - that’s, again, just plain misunderstanding what AI can be used for. Corridor Crew - a VFX team publishing on YouTube - used self-trained AI to boost their film making options. For example, to copy the “bullet time” effect from The Matrix, they were able to use around a dozen cameras instead of hundreds, and then used AI to create the “in between” frames.
How does that have “no economic value”, mate?