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."

 

[Dire Bare]

Like I said, how do you define "regularly"?

Who cares?

The relevant definition of "regularly" is that of Chris Cocks. It's his own gaming experience he's describing after all. Who cares how YOU define regularly?

Sheesh.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If my memory doesn't fail if you wanted certain character with the voice by a real people, for example a bard singing like Michael Jackson, then you should pay royalties. You can't create miniatures with identical faces of famous artists because there some copyright law about that.

Are we talking about AI creating dungeons? That is not new. A different thing is creating (good) plots.

If you want use AI to create pictures with D&D kobolds or bugbears then you will need special LoRAs. A new LoRAs to create D&D dragon with the new style of the 2024 Ed. More LoRAs to be created for iconic characters like lord Soth, Tasha, Tenser, Warduke, Fizban, Tasslehof or Elminster.

Even if you could use AI to create photorealistic animation, the motion capture with human actors should be a faster option, and more to play epic fights with a right coreography.

The AI only can be a tool to help the true creators, and TTRPGs players want to create their own worlds and stories.

Other point is when you are very used to use AI sooner or later you will start to feel the creations by AI are always the same, something like when a reader after reading a lot of horror stories then he can't be surprised and scaried easily any more.

 

[Argyle King]

Who cares?

The relevant definition of "regularly" is that of Chris Cocks. It's his own gaming experience he's describing after all. Who cares how YOU define regularly?

Sheesh.

In the context of the conversation, it is relevant to better understanding the poster to whom I am responding and their point of view.

As that would increase clarity and understanding, it is worthwhile to ask.

Beyond that, the original comment from which this conversation arose was one concerning how common a certain experience was in the case of an interactive-entertainment franchise's steward and chief executive officer was in relation to (and the implication would be compared & contrasted with) the experience(s) of prospective target audience.

As someone who has at various times been among that audience, I find that information to be relevant to having some idea of what the product's future direction may be and how that may (or may not) be an entertainment experience upon which I spend money.

 

[Zarithar]

I use it to create tokens for Roll20 (for my own games) and to create custom magic items. I find it immensely helpful and a great time saver.

 

[Hussar]

I gotta admit, both my groups have used AI to create tokens, do some writeups, and I've used ChatGPT to do the stat blocks for some one shot monsters. Sure, I had to fiddle around with them a bit after the fact to clean them up, but, it did save me a heck of a lot of time.

Stew Shearer's comment talking about how using AI tools is anathema for the "entire TTRPG experience" smacks a lot of the same tone that people reserve for pooh poohing DM's using modules.

Like I said, having something like Dungeon Alchemist is pretty darn handy. It's a tool. No different than any other tool I use. I haven't rolled a saving throw for a character in like ten years - Fantasy Grounds handles that. Is that anathema to the TTRPG experience?

 

[Lanefan]

The obvious solution is for Cocks to play D&D with Enworlders. Once he played with the best of the best, he'll know what D&D really is about.

Yeah, send him over my way...he won't know the D&D that hit him.

 

[Lanefan]

People have different skills. Some people can be good at visualizing a place in their mind but still be poor at describing it on the fly. Having a description prepared in advance, either one you write yourself or from a product, can be a good way to ensure that you convey the atmosphere of the place the way you want to and don't forget to mention any important details.

The bolded trips me up far too often if I'm winging a description. I'll think ahead of time of some significant detail or item or clue I want to put in a location, not write it down, and when the time comes to narrate the place I'll forget all about it.

 

[Lanefan]

I use it to create tokens for Roll20 (for my own games) and to create custom magic items. I find it immensely helpful and a great time saver.

I've found some AI character art online and tweaked it into a couple of bang-up portraits of past and present characters of mine. And as AI art ain't copyrightable, clear conscience too.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I gotta admit, both my groups have used AI to create tokens, do some writeups, and I've used ChatGPT to do the stat blocks for some one shot monsters. Sure, I had to fiddle around with them a bit after the fact to clean them up, but, it did save me a heck of a lot of time.

Stew Shearer's comment talking about how using AI tools is anathema for the "entire TTRPG experience" smacks a lot of the same tone that people reserve for pooh poohing DM's using modules.

Like I said, having something like Dungeon Alchemist is pretty darn handy. It's a tool. No different than any other tool I use. I haven't rolled a saving throw for a character in like ten years - Fantasy Grounds handles that. Is that anathema to the TTRPG experience?

I'd say that using AI content in your game is no different than using any other external content in your game, like modules, sourcebooks, stuff like monsters and locations from DM's Guild, or cool fantasy pictures from deviantart. With AI you can generate content that's customized for your needs, with the tradeoff that the quality generally isn't as high as professional human made content.

It looks like many of the people who call AI an "anathema" to RPGs are in fact humans who make money from selling RPG content....

 

[Oofta]

Like I said, how do you define "regularly"?

I gamed with that many people over the course of a few months. I would consider that "regularly".

This is a weird thing to be fixated on. At one point I regularly played with a lot of people. Exactly how often I would say qualifies as regularly versus how often it would have to be for you is irrelevant.