Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks Talks AI Usage in D&D [UPDATED!]

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks is convinced that the Dungeons & Dragons franchise will support some kind of AI usage in the future. Speaking today at a Goldman Sachs event, Cocks spoke about how AI products could soon support Dungeons & Dragons and other Hasbro brands. Asked about whether AI has the potential to "bend the cost curve" in terms of entertainment development or digital gaming, and how it's being used in the toy and content industries, Cocks said the following:

"Inside of development, we've already been using AI. It's mostly machine-learning-based AI or proprietary AI as opposed to a ChatGPT approach. We will deploy it significantly and liberally internally as both a knowledge worker aid and as a development aid. I'm probably more excited though about the playful elements of AI. If you look at a typical D&D player....I play with probably 30 or 40 people regularly. There's not a single person who doesn't use AI somehow for either campaign development or character development or story ideas. That's a clear signal that we need to be embracing it. We need to do it carefully, we need to do it responsibly, we need to make sure we pay creators for their work, and we need to make sure we're clear when something is AI-generated. But the themes around using AI to enable user-generated content, using AI to streamline new player introduction, using AI for emergent storytelling, I think you're going to see that not just our hardcore brands like D&D but also multiple of our brands."

Wizards of the Coast representatives has repeatedly said that Dungeons & Dragons is a game made by people for people, as multiple AI controversies has surrounded the brand and its parent company. Wizards updated its freelance contracts to explicitly prohibit use of AI and has pulled down AI-generated artwork that was submitted for Bigby's Presents: Glory of the Giants in 2023 after they learned it was made using AI tools.

A FAQ related to AI specifically notes that "Hasbro has a vast portfolio of 1900+ brands of which Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons are two – two very important, cherished brands. Each brand is going to approach its products differently. What is in the best interest of Trivial Pursuit is likely quite different than that of Magic: The Gathering or Dungeons & Dragons." This statement acknowledges that Hasbro may use AI for other brands, while also stating that Wizards is trying to keep AI-generated artwork away from the game. However, while Wizards seems to want to keep AI away from D&D and Magic, their parent company's CEO seems to think that AI and D&D aren't naturally opposed.

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UPDATE -- Greg Tito, who was WotC's communications director until recently, commented on BlueSky: "I'm deeply mistrustful of AI and don't want people using it anywhere near my D&D campaigns."

 

[Charlaquin]

I’m surprised by the 30 or 40 players and all have used AI for character development in some shape or form. Must be different socio-economic level of players, or time strapped, in that group cause none of our group have “played” with AI for anything with their many characters…or art or story elements.

I mean, it’s a CEO’s friends. Of course it’s a different socio-economic group.

 

[DrPlantabyte]

I’m both a forever DM and an AI engineer at a small tech company (we make CAD tools for electrical engineering companies).

The term “AI” is rather broad and is more of a process than a thing. We should be more specific about what applications of AI we oppose/support. Here’s some things I’ve use AI for and whether I think it’s appropriate for a commercial company to do the same:

• estimate whether my homebrew class is overpowered or underpowered (basic statistical machine learning, I support anyone using this)
• search for D&D content on YouTube and Google (AI makes for better search tools, I support this)
• generate filler art for my campaign website (I do not support any commercial company doing this)
• use AI tools to touch-up my personal art (I support anyone doing this, it’s a huge time saver)
• use ChatGPT to write a description for a dungeon room (I do not support companies doing this)
• use ChatGPT to fix my grammar and spelling mistakes (I do support this, as this makes it easier for non-native English speakers to contribute)

Just my 2 cents

 

[Charlaquin]

Side note: I do wonder if he mention this at an earlier event already. Somehow I feel I have read that statement about the 30-40 AI-using players before.

He has said it before, yeah.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'll believe they're doing much with AI when I see it.

When a CEO says they’re using an exploitative and legally dubious technology to cut costs at the expense of creatives, I believe them.

 

[RangerWickett]

Man, this sent me down a rabbit hole of looking for Bronze Age art, and almost immediately, I see this:

Ugh.

So like, I search for ziggurat, and I find both this really fabulous vivid piece that has text at the bottom explaining that it's inspired by Chogha Zanbil, an Elamite ruin that's one of the best preserved ziggurats left today:

And then this rather bland, geographically illogical thing:

And under the second thing I see:

Prompt:Ancient settlements, on the desert, the cities are on the hills, behind large, stone walls, in ancient mesopotamian style, with statues of winged bulls and ziggurat, linked with road, palms here and there, large river nearby, biblical atmosphere

That first one, I now want to have the party go to a new city that's more lush, but perhaps they're performing dark rituals to gain the unnatural favor of a storm god. The latter one? It's just nonsense. No one could live there. It's just a hallucination of what a bronze age settlement might look like.

Lately I've had to include "before:2023" in most of my Google Image searches so I don't get AI chaff.

 

[Jimmy Dick]

In the end, it will come down to money. As the cost of physical books continues to rise, some form of cost-cutting will be implemented. Moving to all-digital content will eventually happen, but will they adopt AI to cut costs first? At some point, we'll see both happen.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I mean, it’s a CEO’s friends. Of course it’s a different socio-economic group.

It's like when rich politicians say people could afford a house if they'd cut back on Starbucks and avacado toast.

 

[Argyle King]

A bit of Déjà Vu with this thread.

Post in thread 'RPG Evolution: Hasbro's AI Plans' RPG Evolution: Hasbro's AI Plans

Do you think the majority of the D&D audience has an appetite for more AI and Cocks?

 

[Blue]

I'd be okay with a DM assistant and help with creating NPCs. They've taken a stance against AI art.

But for the most part? I suspect it's just Buzzword Spin! The corporate game where you claim to use whatever buzzword happens to be hot at the moment!

"With our new blockchain synergy, players will create characters out of unique AI-generated NFT options purchased in a microtransactional manner. We will leverage our catalog of games to cross-promote via procedurally generated mashup content, aligned with a viral marketing campaign with deepfake analogs of our IP. Rizz."

Stock prices raise sharply on new vision.

EDIT: This is satire.

 

[Oofta]

When a CEO says they’re using an exploitative and legally dubious technology to cut costs at the expense of creatives, I believe them.

I think it depends on how it's used. Some things, like art for their books, they've taken a stance against. Previous statements also state they won't be used for creating modules.

But something that gives me hints on adventures, maybe help me with mapping? Things that just save time or help me fill in details.

Technology advances, things change. We don't know what how they will do. Assuming there's anything to it other than vaporware.