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."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ive heard JEJ has sold his voice rights for use as Vader.

Hopefully for a lot more than the $7,000 he got paid for his original work on Star Wars. He had to have been one of the most valuable voices in the English speaking world, along with Freeman and David Attenborough.

 

[Lanefan]

i was confused by that quote too.

Do 30 or 40 people regularly play with Cocks at the same time?

That sounds like a drastically different Dungeons & Dragons experience than any that I've had. Trying to imagine that doesn't resemble anything like the groups with whom I've gamed over the years.

Surely, he means that he games with multiple groups. But, even then (if we assume 4-5 people per group,) that would mean that somewhere between 8 to 10 groups are "regularly" having sessions involving Cocks.

Even during times I was playing a lot, the most was 2 different ongoing face-to-face groups at the same time while also being in an online play-by-post game. All together, that was 15 people, with significant overlap between two of the groups, so more like 10.

Cocks is saying he's regularly interacting with 40.

In fairness, that's not entirely an impossible thing.

Myself, while I only play directly with about 12 people (three groups with some overlap), if I expand the fences to include affiliated games I'm not in and-or currently-inactive players I could get to 25-30 real fast.

Which means if CC is involved in some WotC-internal playtest groups that are surrounded by a larger interconnected community of other similar groups that all exchange information and war stories, plus his home game if he has one, 30-40 isn't at all out of line.

 

[Lanefan]

He doesn't use it to run the game, and he judiciously adjusts things as needed, so... not too much. But I do think the difference is noticeable.

My favorite thing he does with AI is generating songs about our adventures, such as this: Eyes in the Dark by @vykyng | Suno

That's one damn good song.

Not knowing the software etc., is the entire song AI, or just the words, or ???

 

[TiQuinn]

In fairness, that's not entirely an impossible thing.

Myself, while I only play directly with about 12 people (three groups with some overlap), if I expand the fences to include affiliated games I'm not in and-or currently-inactive players I could get to 25-30 real fast.

Which means if CC is involved in some WotC-internal playtest groups that are surrounded by a larger interconnected community of other similar groups that all exchange information and war stories, plus his home game if he has one, 30-40 isn't at all out of line.

Can you do that and be the CEO of a billion dollar company?

 

[Lanefan]

Can you do that and be the CEO of a billion dollar company?

If you're the CEO of a billion-dollar company then most of the time you probably can, much like a king, do whatever you flippin'-well like.

 

[TiQuinn]

If you're the CEO of a billion-dollar company then most of the time you probably can, much like a king, do whatever you flippin'-well like.

 

[Azzy]

If you're the CEO of a billion-dollar company then most of the time you probably can, much like a king, do whatever you flippin'-well like.

Note to self: Build more guillotines.

 

[Argyle King]

In fairness, that's not entirely an impossible thing.

Myself, while I only play directly with about 12 people (three groups with some overlap), if I expand the fences to include affiliated games I'm not in and-or currently-inactive players I could get to 25-30 real fast.

Which means if CC is involved in some WotC-internal playtest groups that are surrounded by a larger interconnected community of other similar groups that all exchange information and war stories, plus his home game if he has one, 30-40 isn't at all out of line.

I get the idea that multiple groups can exist. I've had times in my life when that has been true.

Really, it's not even that big of a deal. I'm just a little bit baffled by what is meant by saying "...regularly..." with "...30-40..." people.

Maybe that is true for him.

Maybe I'm out of touch with how most people currently play. Is it the normal experience to regularly play D&D with AI and 30-40 people?

I've been at Adventurer's League events with sons 30-40 people, but -in my mind- just hating present in the same building while other groups play at different tables doesn't mean I am playing with them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe I'm out of touch with how most people currently play. Is it the normal experience to regularly play D&D with AI and 30-40 people?

I don't think you're the out of touch person in this case. Cocks is living in a very weird bubble that he doesn't acknowledge.

I have a family member who's a Silicon Valley techbro (on the more human end of the spectrum, but definitely on it), and some of the nonsense that comes out of his friends' mouths is breathtaking.

 

[Oofta]

Can you do that and be the CEO of a billion dollar company?

Back when I was playing with a lot of people I was working full time and, all too often, more than full time.