Baldur’s Gate 3 actor Neil Newbon, the talent behind the RPG’s beloved vampire companion Astarion, has reiterated his thoughts on AI in creative work, telling fans “f**k AI” in the latest episode of his YouTube series.
After finishing his latest playthrough of Larian Studios’ CRPG, Newbon explained that there won’t be another game like it “either ever or for a very, very, very long time”. Alongside his praise of the game, Newbon made sure to point out that not only was the game not made with AI tools, but also it “could never be”.
“It just goes to show you, folks—f**k AI,” the actor declared. “This game could never be made by AI. It’s too interesting, subtle, crazy, off-the-wall`, pathos-filled.” The actor explained that everything from art to music to writing is “too human” to be generated by datasets of pre-existing works. “Yeah, there’s no f**king way AI could make this.”
Newbon and his fellow Baldur’s Gate 3 co-stars have been very vocal on the negatives of artificial intelligence over the past few years. Jennifer English, who plays the game’s best companion Shadowheart (that’s right) recently took to the stage at The Golden Joysticks to fight back against the use of AI in games, films and other mediums.
“I get it, that AI is a tool. I get it,” the Baldur’s Gate 3 actor said. “But not for… not to replace creativity. Mistakes are beautiful. Flaws are wonderful. Keep them in. Keep it human.” English concluded that studios should just “be cool”, urging people making games “don’t be weird”.
As for Newbon, this latest pushback against AI is far from his first. In a recent interview with PCGameN, the actor pointed at games like Arc Raiders, massively successful titles that pay actors to create voice banks based on them, and then simply generate lines instead of getting actors to record lines.
“I don’t think there’s a justification for taking people’s jobs away. I don’t really think it’s legitimate. If you’re going to not record the lines in the first place and just use AI to take somebody’s voice and manipulate it however the hell you want, that’s a problem. You’re robbing that performer of that day’s fee, and you’re robbing that performer of the ability to look after themselves or their family – most actors, notoriously, are not rich. Most of us struggle [for] our entire career,” they explained.
While Baldur’s Gate 3 can be labelled AI free, Larian Studios has come under fire for its use of Generative AI tools for its next major RPG, Divinity. The studio has now barred the use of AI after backlash from fans with Larian specifically noting that the tools may not be used for creative work.
For more Larian news, read about how Divinity aims to be the studio fully “unleashed”, according to CEO Swen Vincke. Additionally, read about the recent massive sales spikes for Baldur’s Gate 3 and the older Divinity: Original Sin games following the new game’s announcement.
