WotC Hasbro CEO optimistic about AI in D&D and MTG’s future

[Charlaquin]

You have two assumptions there: 1) Monetizing D&D is bad, and 2) Utilizing AI will be bad.

Bad is implied by you treating these, in this context by your words, as "a real emergency."

Neither of your assumptions is necessarily well founded until we actually know what the monetization and AI use look like. If the monetization is selling something I very much want, and that millions want, it's not bad. Similarly if the AI is a form which people want, it's not bad. I mentioned earlier how much use I got out of using AI to come up with inspiration and structure for details about a ritual I wanted to use in my game, as an example.

AI is bad. I don’t care how Hazbro decides to use it, it’s a technology that is deeply harmful to human society. The monetization comment, I personally took a wait-and-see attitude towards. But, the track record has shown that it caused huge problems for Magic: the Gathering when they shifted to this product-lead model, so I think my suspicion of their stated intent to take a similar approach with D&D is pretty justified.

 

[Charlaquin]

NFTs ended up having almost zero utilitarian purpose. The extremely few utilitarian purposes they had were very minor and redundant to other tools out there anyway. AI is not like that. AI is so hot right now because it has just so many actual utilitarian purposes which are not redundant. AI is just never going away. At best it will be controlled by laws in some respects.

I mean, controlling it by laws would be great. I’d also prefer for companies to continue be wary of the social consequences of using AI. Both of those outcomes require people who want to see them come to fruition to be active and loud in our opposition to the tools now, while they’re still in the Wild West phase.

 

[Mistwell]

AI is bad. I don’t care how Hazbro decides to use it, it’s a technology that is deeply harmful to human society. The monetization comment, I personally took a wait-and-see attitude towards. But, the track record has shown that it caused huge problems for Magic: the Gathering when they shifted to this product-lead model, so I think my suspicion of their stated intent to take a similar approach with D&D is pretty justified.

Your opinion isn't fact though. Not all AI is bad in my opinion. I found the use of AI to help with the inspiration and formatting of a D&D element to be quite good.

More importantly, we will all be using AI in the future even if we do not know it. We've already used AI and didn't know it with numerous everyday tasks, like searching for things on the Internet and calling customer service for companies. Even spellcheck and grammar check is now benefitting from a form of AI. Translation tools for movies and TV shows are benefitting from AI now. Shopping in some grocery stores like Amazon Fresh are benefitting from a form of AI. It's becoming ubiquitous, like computers and the internet.

Heck, we're reading this conversation on a piece of software based on vBulletin I believe. Front page of vBulletin right now:

intelligent​

• AI-based user engagement
• Leverages machine learning & NLP
• Live on vB Cloud

 

[Kannik]

We have no idea what impact AI will have any more than the introduction of the internal combustion engine. We have far, far fewer farriers making horse shoes than we had in the past, that doesn't mean we should have stopped it's introduction. As far as truck drivers it's a pretty crappy job that has a 94% turnover rate. Admittedly a lot of the blame for that comes from rules that broke the truck driver union.

Part of what makes this different than what's come before is the speed. To convert from horses to cars took decades. From leeches to medicine took decades. From ice boxes to fridges... you get the idea.

With what's occurred with generative AI, for artists it could be a year or two.

But/and, as mentioned upthread, it's less about the tech than about the precarious position we've let ourselves all be put in such that we all can be sent to the curb in 22 seconds or less if it allows a very, very select few to satisfy their 'need' to buy a yacht to keep their other yacht company.

 

[Oofta]

AI is absolutely a wolf. It’s causing real human people real suffering, at the cost of tremendous amounts of fossil energy, in order to produce torrents of slop writing and “art,” accelerating the global information literacy crisis in the process.

If we always rejected new technologies as evil we'd still be living in caves. AI is not inherently good or evil. Some aspects will be beneficial others will not.

I don't know what the future brings. I do know that companies cannot ignore this kind of change.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I mean, even the companies 'pioneering' 'Ai' at the moment requested to be regulated.

Even they know both the risks and that they legally can't stop themselves.

 

[Oofta]

how long are you allowed to do so before we can say that it was nothing without you replying ‘but any minute now’….

Based on what we've seen for 5E, at least a decade.

 

[Charlaquin]

Your opinion isn't fact though.

Obviously. I’m still going to take actions informed by my opinions.

Not all AI is bad in my opinion. I found the use of AI to help with the inspiration and formatting of a D&D element to be quite good.

Unsurprisingly. Guns can be useful too, I still advocate for regulating them. A thing being useful doesn’t mean it can’t also be dangerous.

More importantly, we will all be using AI in the future even if you do not know it. We've already used AI and didn't know it with numerous everyday tasks, like searching for things on the Internet and calling customer service for companies. Even spellcheck and grammar check is now benefitting from a form of AI. Translation tools for movies and TV shows are benefitting from AI now. Shopping in some grocery stores like Amazon Fresh are benefitting from a form of AI.

Oh, I know. This is a trend I find deeply alarming, which is exactly why I am a staunch advocate for doing everything in our power to get regulations put in place as quickly as possible, and to make open discussion about its use off-putting to corporations as possible in the meantime.

 

[Azzy]

I mean, if he wants to do that the Universes Beyond stuff they've done for Magic include a whole lot of properties that already have licensed RPGs. Some of them have licensed RPGs that are compatible with 5e. Of the ones that they've used for Universes Beyond that don't have their own RPG I'm not sure how much interest there would be - is anyone clamoring for a Jurassic Park sourcebook? Or a Fortnite sourcebook? Maybe a League of Legends sourcebook I guess.

Quick! Call @LuisCarlos17f !

 

[Mistwell]

Obviously. I’m still going to take actiona informed by my opinions.

Unsurprisingly. Guns can be useful too, I still advocate for regulating them. A thing being useful doesn’t mean it can’t also be dangerous.

Well sure, we agree about that. But regulating something isn't the same as calling all uses of that thing bad and an emergency.

Oh, I know. This is a trend I find deeply alarming, which is exactly why I am a staunch advocate for doing everything in our power to get regulations put in place as quickly as possible, and to make open discussion about its use off-putting to corporations as possible in the meantime.

Me too.