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."

 

[Vaalingrade]

Umm. You brought up child labour.

Umm. You went to tech ending it as part of the whole 'tech marches on' argument for excusing its human cost.

Buy hey...

don’t let things like facts get in the way.

So if we're now just going to misrepresent the entire conversation that is verifiable by simply reading the thread, we're done here.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Realism, not fatalism.

Which is usually the thing people say when they're being fatalistic or nihilistic.

Which I can't blame them for if their view is dominated by 'technology marches on and corp's gonna corp and then never entertaining any solutions to either of these issues.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Even still, the point was about level of interaction... Interacting with 30-40 of them closely enough to confidently make that claim about their AI use speaks to one of a couple problems that invalidate it for purposes of experience that is relevant to anything that could be called normal d&d play for more average d&d players playing in their free time as a hobby for fun.

He's the CEO. I doubt he plays for pure enjoyment. He's going to take a heavy interest in a variety of factors, and confidently request, and receive, levels of feedback different than in a normal gaming group.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Which is usually the thing people say when they're being fatalistic or nihilistic.

Which I can't blame them for if their view is dominated by 'technology marches on and corp's gonna corp and then never entertaining any solutions to either of these issues.

Can you provide an example where viable technology was not exploited, and where corps did not corp?

Because I can't think of one.

I can think of plenty where technology marched on, and over, people, and where corps corp'd, though.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Can you provide an example where viable technology was not exploited, and where corps did not corp?

Because I can't think of one.

I can think of plenty where technology marched on, and over, people, and where corps corp'd, though.

The point is that we should examine solutions, not just accept it as inevitable. Not doing so is where fatalism lies.

 

[Jd Smith1]

The point is that we should examine solutions, not just accept it as inevitable. Not doing so is where fatalism lies.

So you cant think of one, either?

Are you familiar with the definition of insanity, as presented by Vaas?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Can you provide an example where viable technology was not exploited, and where corps did not corp?

Because I can't think of one.

I can think of plenty where technology marched on, and over, people, and where corps corp'd, though.

China and Japan to some extent.
The Chinese never really developed a pike and shot army for a number of reasons as far as I can figure out. (not an expert here or even all that well read on it, so take my take for what it worth).
One, was that Chinese imperial politics was pretty brutal and making a mistake was often fatal. Mistakes could be mitigated if one could make a robust case that one followed the advice of the acknowledged literature on the matter and that never said, "buy guns from the red hairs".
Second, as far as the Chinese authorities were concerned the principal foe were the steppe tribes and they were cavalry armies and one need an army that could catch them, and European style armies could not do that.
Finally, interior troops were not usually equipped with gunpowder weapons because often if they were not paid they deserted and became bandits and in time, with enough bandits one got full army level rebellions.
The bureaucrats did not want to arm potential rebels with decent weapons.

In Japan it was a little different and I really do not have any details as to why they stopped manufacturing gunpowder weapons. Lack of iron ore may have something to do with it.

As for corps corping, well that is the case for now as the people that own and run corporations are the politically and socially the dominant class in our society. That was not always the case in the past and there is no guarantee that it will be so in the long-term future.

 

[tetrasodium]

He's the CEO.

Agreed. That makes his claims even more concerning

I doubt he plays for pure enjoyment.

It is however important that the play he engaged in is not simply an echo chamber wish fulfillment that results in the game being designed to fulfill the goal of "how best to entertain and cater to the PC of a guy who decides if my department gets raises or another round of layoffs" for whatever the reason he plays is.

He's going to take a heavy interest in a variety of factors, and confidently request, and receive, levels of feedback different than in a normal gaming group.

Most players can't even be expected to read anything their gm gives them. That sounds more like a paid group of employees engaging in on the clock activities...

 

[Vaalingrade]

So you cant think of one, either?

Are you familiar with the definition of insanity, as presented by Vaas?

There was a time we couldn't conceive of programming computers to hallucinate either, but it was clearly possible.

Giving up is never the answer. Again: fatalism.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Most players can't even be expected to read anything their gm gives them. That sounds more like a paid group of employees engaging in on the clock activities...

Exactly my belief.