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."

 

[Lanefan]

Hmmm...the map doesn't want to show in this browser but it is very basic: four rectangular rooms with straight lines indicating the passages between them. I could further ask for illustrations to accompany each.

Anyway, I could obviously make it much, much better by iterating on each part, but this gives you an idea of what it can currently do with very basic prompts. Is it good? No! Is it good enough for me to work with? Yes, absolutely. I could take that and make an evening's entertainment out of it. As a rapid resource in a pinch, it's got some obvious potential.

I could take that and run it stock (other than system conversion) for a party of raw 1st-level types - IMO it's a surprisingly good little adventure given how little you gave it to work with in the prompt.

I'd bang out my own map for it, though; it sounds like what it gave you is rather underwhelming.

 

[Zarithar]

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.

Same - I'm not trying to sell this to anyone or profit from it in any way. It's a tool like a random name generator as far as I am concerned. I am working on my own TTRPG however and have commissioned actual artists for that project. I don't support AI art in for profit products.

 

[Yaarel]

Soon enough, AI will be replacing accountants, computer coders, managers, executives, and CEOs.

In that day, the equivalent human counterparts will understand better the angst of the artists today.

 

[Yaarel]

Can an AI routine sell products better than sales humans can?

AI is coming for the sales team as well.

 

[Oofta]

Soon enough, AI will be replacing accountants, computer coders, managers, executives, and CEOs.

In that day, the equivalent human counterparts will understand better the angst of the artists today.

Maybe, maybe not. People have been predicting the end of jobs because of advances in technology since just about forever. Yes, there are fewer blacksmiths around than there were before the car was invented, but jobs haven't gone away. Disruptive technology just means change, it's neither inherently good nor inherently bad.

 

[Jd Smith1]

AI art generators have been very handy for me as a GM. I'm very interested in what the future holds.

 

[Yaarel]

Maybe, maybe not. People have been predicting the end of jobs because of advances in technology since just about forever. Yes, there are fewer blacksmiths around than there were before the car was invented, but jobs haven't gone away. Disruptive technology just means change, it's neither inherently good nor inherently bad.

We are looking at within about two or three decades. Soon enough for most people here.

How humans will survive when there are little or no jobs in existence, is probably the question of this century.

At the moment, the trajectory is, only the elite 15% of the population that owns most of the properties and businesses will benefit. Even this percentage will probably narrow. Meanwhile most of the human population will be outmoded. Even the wealthy will be outmoded − it is that they "own" the AI routines that will outmode humans.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess the next step is putting 3d virtual figures with certain poses for a "photo", and the software would create a picture, or an animation, according the "recorded". But I suspects the producers will prefer CGI+cell shading animation style "Marvel What If?" show.

 

[Oofta]

We are looking at within about two or three decades. Soon enough for most people here.

How humans will survive when there are little or no jobs in existence, is probably the question of this century.

At the moment, the trajectory is, only the elite 15% of the population that owns most of the properties and businesses will benefit. Even this percentage will probably narrow. Meanwhile most of the human population will be outmoded. Even the wealthy will be outmoded − it is that they "own" the AI routines that will outmode humans.

Like I said. Maybe, maybe not. The future is hard to predict, especially when it hasn't happened yet. It used to be that 90% of the people produced the food for the remaining 10%, now 2% of the population is farmers (in the US). The only constant is change, best we can do is accept that and do our best to adjust.

But don't let me stop your doom and gloom. Carry on.

 

[Yaarel]

Like I said. Maybe, maybe not. The future is hard to predict, especially when it hasn't happened yet. It used to be that 90% of the people produced the food for the remaining 10%. The only constant is change, best we can do is accept that and do our best to adjust.

Since the early oughts two decades ago, I have been certain that the Turing Test would pass around 2025. (It hasnt yet to my satisfaction, but we are close.) The same curve of technological acceleration is as robust as ever, and on its way for the socalled "singularity", around 2045, giveortake. But it will probably take a decade or so to become ubiquitous.

For example, AI programs will figure out how to do something, and 3D printers will create the parts and machinery to accomplish it. This is the primitive beginnings of this kind of technology.

But don't let me stop your doom and gloom. Carry on.

A world of AI can be utopian and luxurious for humanity. It depends on how much of the population can benefit from it, and how much room there is for those who dont want participate in AI.