Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks Talks AI Usage in D&D [UPDATED!]

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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.


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."
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

That is at least a large part the job of CEO's at the public corporate level. They do other stuff also but keeping the owner(s)/investors happy is a big part.


That is not to say that this is not on somebodies cards but there is no indication of that here. From what I have seen, some stores on this side of the pond have been cutting back on the automated checkouts, though not in the local store just yet.

As it stands, the corporate investors appear to be more satisfied with Cocks than some of the general community.

Here, self checkout is starting to be used in a lot more places. Even the small gas station down the road from me now has a "self service" counter.

What I meant by using AI like self-checkout is that an overseer or editor could generate content without needing as much staff. WotC has said that AI would not write content, but corporate semantics might be open to something like "AI Assisted" content generation, meaning that AI trained on adventure design and artwork came up with a general framework and then someone touched it up to make the final product.
 

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Internal use of AI: translation: "For example, we have tens of thousand of monsters over the editions, so the next monster book will be "Give me a monster book with 350 random monsters stylized and configured in a 2024 D&D format." rather than pay someone to do all of that."
So by that logic, using tech = bad?

In the last centuries that was what always happened. New tech made some jobs redundand. But it created new jobs. And free time to spend on RPGs for example. And it made things affordable for normal people.

AI is a tool. At some point it will be used. It is important to find rules how to apply them responsibly.
 
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Do you think the majority of the D&D audience has an appetite for more AI and Cocks?
They surely have an appetite for one of those things.
So, it's more like Cocks being dangled in front of Sachs as part of a basic corporate affair?
Well, that's a mental image now.
As it stands, the corporate investors appear to be more satisfied with Cocks than some of the general community.
Can we please start calling him Chris? 🤣
 


On this one, non-native speakers have, on average, better grammar and orthography than native ones. And using LLMs for spellchecking is overkill.
As a teacher . . . no, no they don't. At least, not while they are learning the language. They can certainly develop excellent English grammar, and some work hard to achieve that, for sure.
 


Player: "I'd like to attack the goblin."

HAL: "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Dave." opens airlock door

In today's Dungeons & Dragons, the human GM serves the players.

In Chris Cocks' Dungeons & Dragons, our AI GM overlords serve the players!

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