Hasbro CEO Reiterates That AI Isn't Used to Make D&D Because of the Game's Audience and Creators

While Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks is a big fan of AI, he reiterated in a recent interview that the technology is not used to make Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. Recently, Cocks sat down with the Verge to discuss Hasbro's business and in particular how the company uses AI. While Cocks gave several examples of how AI is integrated within the company (it has a Peppa Pig AI provide feedback on Peppa Pig toys, for instance), he stated that not every facet of the company currently uses AI. "From a creative context, I think you have to think about it very carefully," Cocks said. "There are some brands that the audience, the creators, just don’t want it, so we don’t even have it in our pipelines for our video games or for Magic: The Gathering, or D&D. For things like toys where we’re basing it on existing IP, or like a long legacy of ideas, we are able to use it and use it pretty effectively."

The Dungeons & Dragons brand has strongly come out against AI, specifically when it comes to creative work. The brand currently bans the use of AI-generated artwork in its games and has repeatedly talked about how the game is made for people by people. However, Cocks has talked about his personal use of AI in his home D&D games and has strongly suggested integrating that technology into Dungeons & Dragons somehow.

Cocks previously bragged about how AI has been integrated into Hasbro's workflow, and the Verge interview talks about how AI has supplemented the business, mentioning that AI has been used to ideate toy ideas and simulate focus groups and play test labs. While Cocks sees AI as a way to "level up" the work of creatives as opposed to replacing them, he also admits that he's been wrong about technology disrupting the toy business before, specifically mentioning NFTs as an area that he got wrong in the past.

The interview also briefly mentioned the upcoming video game Dungeons & Dragons: Warlock, with Cocks noting that that game will be released in the "later part" of 2027.

 

[Morrus]

You can't legislate away what people want.

Famously, you can!

 

[MoonSong]

I’m a teacher actually. Forcing students onto your Facebook page or Instagram feed is not only unenforceable it is also incredibly unethical. Not to mention creepy and weird. We are specifically forbidden to even invite students OR alumni less than a full year out of school to join any social media. When we go on a trip and I collect texts so I can contact students in case of emergency, I have to immediately delete them the second the trip ends.

Getting back to the original topic, there are certain aspects of technology that you can and IMO should regulate. But blanket bans on AI use by consenting adults is way beyond the pale. And that horse left the stable long ago anyway. What remains is to manage the ongoing situation.

Unethical? Very much. Unenforceable? Not if it is the only way to get key documents for the course and even deliver assignments. Illegal? In your country, perhaps. Even if illegal, the National University here has a hard time enforcing its own bylaws.

 

[MoonSong]

We aren't talking about copy and paste from wikipedia. If a student uses AI to write summaries and essays, will the teacher be able to tell?

So far, yes. The problem is not being able to tell, the problem is being able to prove it.

 

[Gradine]

Famously, you can!

Of course, just as famously, it doesn't really go well!

 

[Blue]

I’m a teacher actually. Forcing students onto your Facebook page or Instagram feed is not only unenforceable it is also incredibly unethical. Not to mention creepy and weird. We are specifically forbidden to even invite students OR alumni less than a full year out of school to join any social media. When we go on a trip and I collect texts so I can contact students in case of emergency, I have to immediately delete them the second the trip ends.

Fall semester my youngest had an art appreciation class at their college, and a big part of the homework was watching various screed-like "critiques" the professor had put up on Youtube. EDIT: Of themselves.

If it wasn't hard to guess, when it came to grading, these were the "right" answers. In Art Appreciation, there being "right" answers.

There's absolutely ethical lines educators should follow. And there are just as absolutely outliers that do not.

 

[MoonSong]

There's absolutely ethical lines educators should follow. And there are just as absolutely outliers that do not.

Not to dump on the profesion,n ot wanting to imply most do, but more than just outliers.

 

[Benji]

Most of what I have read suggests that GenAlpha shares essentially none of GenZ's concerns about AI. This is a temporary situation. There is a whole generation being raised on GenAI and they love it.

It's OK. By the time that generation grows up, AI will have dried the environment so badly, no one is gonna be worried about rpgs anymore.

 

[Scribe]

Most of what I have read suggests that GenAlpha shares essentially none of GenZ's concerns about AI. This is a temporary situation. There is a whole generation being raised on GenAI and they love it.

The oldest Gen Alpha is 16. You'll forgive me if I dismiss what 16 years consider concerning or not, I hope.

 

[Gradine]

I hope so, it should be treated like tobacco, heavily fined for the damage done and ideally banned

Of course since the one of the greatest indicators of tobacco use is low socioeconomic status, excise taxes for tobacco are some of the most inherently regressive taxes in the US, which is really saying something

 

[mamba]

Of course since the one of the greatest indicators of tobacco use is low socioeconomic status, excise taxes for tobacco are some of the most inherently regressive taxes in the US, which is really saying something

there are cases where taxation is an appropriate means to influence behavior, I consider this one of them. If it is the poor that smoke the most, that sounds like their priorities are screwed up and there is still room for hiking the taxes....