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."

 

[Mistwell]

Regarding AI use by players and DMs, I ran a poll. Yes, I know, survey bias, but it's better than Chris Cocks's 30 imaginary friends.

I just posted a thread on how our DM uses a series of tools that includes AI to generate a session summary of each of our sessions.

This DM does four games per week, and has handled that level of load for years now. Each game has 6 players except 1 has 5. So including him it's 22 people (adjusting for the 2 overlapping players in two games). Another of our players is also a DM and has 7 players once a month on a different game, and he doesn't currently use these summary tools but will be using it soon as the final touches are placed on the scripts the first DM is creating and sharing to him (he's very excited to be able to use it since a good summary with a month delay between games will be helpful). So that will be 29 people, just for only that one AI summary tool, in my direct circle.

I don't think the CEO is imagining people who use AI for D&D in his circle. I think this is something which has come on pretty fast, and it hasn't spread to your circle yet. But it is spreading very fast, and it might be time to adjust assumptions accordingly. I don't even think some of our players realize they're using AI. They're just reading a weekly summary and commenting on it, not really thinking their voice fed into that AI and then that AI played a major role in that document existing every week.

 

[Lanefan]

Yeah.

I'm sure all the fan chatter, positive, negative, toxic, or indifferent isn't likely registering with Cocks. The negativity brings down fan discourse, makes these threads less pleasant to participate in, and colors my choices of where I spend my hobby time.

So if someone in a position of influence (which Mr Cocks unarguably is) says something that many people find questionable we're not supposed to push back or call him out on it?

I mean, I'm fine with him saying he plays D&D with 30-40 people. I assume it to be true and say good on him for that. There's nothing worse than a boss - or CEO - who doesn't know the company's product and can't be arsed to learn about it, assuming the generic MBA knowledge and bullcrap will always be enough. I've worked for a few such over the years and it never went well for either the underlings or, ultimately, the company.

I'm not fine with CC's take on where he wants the game to go (online) and am ve-e-ery dubious about his claim that everyone is already using AI in their games; and its this last claim that's (IMO justifiably) drawing the negative reaction.

 

[Oofta]

So if someone in a position of influence (which Mr Cocks unarguably is) says something that many people find questionable we're not supposed to push back or call him out on it?

I mean, I'm fine with him saying he plays D&D with 30-40 people. I assume it to be true and say good on him for that. There's nothing worse than a boss - or CEO - who doesn't know the company's product and can't be arsed to learn about it, assuming the generic MBA knowledge and bullcrap will always be enough. I've worked for a few such over the years and it never went well for either the underlings or, ultimately, the company.

I'm not fine with CC's take on where he wants the game to go (online) and am ve-e-ery dubious about his claim that everyone is already using AI in their games; and its this last claim that's (IMO justifiably) drawing the negative reaction.

Why do you assume that CC wants the game to go online any more than it already is? Because there's currently a significant percentage of people that use Roll20, Fantasy Grounds or any number of other tools to play online. My family game has 3 people online because of where people live.

I don't think there's a reason to believe they're pushing things online, doesn't mean they don't see an opportunity to grow in that sphere.

 

[Wolfram stout]

Do fantasy sports leagues people actually do anything though? Don't they just pick their players and then wait to see what happens next week?
I don't know a hockey ball from a baseball racket...i'm really asking.

Usually there is one big event per sport per season, The Draft, where the Players get together and pick the players on the sports teams. Then it is weekly scoring usually over the internet and trash talking. But, I know people that are in multiple leagues in the same sport and do it for differnt sports. So for example if you are in 3 Fantasy Football leagues and 3 NBA leagues that is easily 30-90 people you "play regularly" with. Is it as regular as a weekly game session? No.

But I can see him playing in 1 weekly session and 3-5 monthly-quarterly sessions and get to those numbers.

 

[KYRON45]

Usually there is one big event per sport per season, The Draft, where the Players get together and pick the players on the sports teams. Then it is weekly scoring usually over the internet and trash talking. But, I know people that are in multiple leagues in the same sport and do it for different sports. So for example if you are in 3 Fantasy Football leagues and 3 NBA leagues that is easily 30-90 people you "play regularly" with. Is it as regular as a weekly game session? No.

But I can see him playing in 1 weekly session and 3-5 monthly-quarterly sessions and get to those numbers.

I appreciate the information. Now I can get back to kicking this birdey for a 3 pointer out on the volleyball pitch.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Exactly!

My senior year in college (Chem E) my project was to design a full wastewater treatment plant with primary, secondary & tertiary treatment, size all pumps and estimate all costs. By comparison my professor worked with a team of 3 others to design just a single distillation column when he was a senior.

Technology makes us more efficient. You still need qualified people to check the output of those systems.

The world is overall better for all this technology.

I used to have a good friend and player who graduated college the year I was born... he had to learn how to program punch cards.
My Uncle was at NASA for the moon landing...
Both of them (unfortunately gone now) lived long enough to see things that we play with that might as well have been sci fi to them as kids.

My uncle didn't quite hit full smart phones buy Ipods and black berrys... and he used to laugh at how much computing power were in them.

My buddy made it to smart phones, and HATED that we as a group started moving toward texting updates between games and I had a facebook private group for us to do setting stuff... he didn't make it to when Covid forced us to Roll20, but I wonder what he would have thought... all my notes all my hand outs are digital. I use 'stolen' art to make the game flow more...

 

[Lanefan]

Why do you assume that CC wants the game to go online any more than it already is?

Because online is where all that sweet sweet subscription revenue can be found. Compared to pen-and-paper, online is far more monetizable.

Because there's currently a significant percentage of people that use Roll20, Fantasy Grounds or any number of other tools to play online. My family game has 3 people online because of where people live.

I don't think there's a reason to believe they're pushing things online, doesn't mean they don't see an opportunity to grow in that sphere.

I'll take a guess right now that 6e, when it comes some 5-10 years from now, will either be entirely digital or very close to it.

 

[Lanefan]

I used to have a good friend and player who graduated college the year I was born... he had to learn how to program punch cards.

Me too; my first year of university was the last year they used punch cards.

My Uncle was at NASA for the moon landing...
Both of them (unfortunately gone now) lived long enough to see things that we play with that might as well have been sci fi to them as kids.

My uncle didn't quite hit full smart phones buy Ipods and black berrys... and he used to laugh at how much computing power were in them.

My buddy made it to smart phones, and HATED that we as a group started moving toward texting updates between games and I had a facebook private group for us to do setting stuff... he didn't make it to when Covid forced us to Roll20, but I wonder what he would have thought... all my notes all my hand outs are digital. I use 'stolen' art to make the game flow more...

We've put a lot of our game material online mostly for ease of access (and, in my case, ease of editing!).

The key piece, though, is that when I'm DMing I'm still sitting in the same room as the players, sharing a pot of tea or a case of beer and actually talking to each other in person. This will not change.

 

[Oofta]

Because online is where all that sweet sweet subscription revenue can be found. Compared to pen-and-paper, online is far more monetizable.

I'll take a guess right now that 6e, when it comes some 5-10 years from now, will either be entirely digital or very close to it.

I see no way for them to "force" people to play online exclusively. I happen to use DDB because I find it worth the money for the time and effort I save but if they start charging too much I'll drop it tomorrow just like I dropped a couple of streaming services. I see nothing in the foreseeable future where it's not a supported option to sit around the table in person, it's just too big a part of the game for a lot of people.

In addition, you haven't pointed to anything that Cocks has stated just made assumptions with no proof of what their goals are.

 

[Wolfram stout]

Because online is where all that sweet sweet subscription revenue can be found. Compared to pen-and-paper, online is far more monetizable.

I'll take a guess right now that 6e, when it comes some 5-10 years from now, will either be entirely digital or very close to it.

I know not having books would cut cost, but I think it will take at least another full generation of Game Designers/Executives to got that far, so I would say 15-20 years

I guess they are watching Foundry's Ember RPG with great interest. That could shift the timeframe one way or the other.