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

Status
Not open for further replies.
tasha art.jpeg


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."
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


log in or register to remove this ad


So by that logic, using tech = bad?
Not universally, and I don't think that's what I was saying. This specific use of technology =/= all tech is bad.

If there's one observation I've made in nearly 45 years of gaming is that the best things have come from human imagination and creativity. If WotC starts using AI to churn out material because it's fast and easy (even if it's legal or technically moral because they are only scraping from their own IP), I think that's a bad thing for the product and the game.

I'm not against technology. Heck, I'm not against ALL forms of AI. Just certain uses of it.
 





This to me is the exact message I would expect, honestly from any company at this point.

The idea of a company not embracing AI in some way shape or form is just telling their investors "hey we don't actually want to be a company in 5 years".

I now use copilot a lot for my games, ESPECIALLY for artwork. PCs meet a random npc, I can have a full portrait of that person ready to go in seconds. Its solid for random name generations, or if I need a backstory for a character (normally I don't use it wholesale but its great to spur the imagination and get the juices flowing). Honestly the only thing I have found the AI really bad at so far is custom map generation, it can make you any old fantasy map, but if you want a map with certain elements that is pretty tricky.

There is no reason players couldn't have access to AIs that can build the character stats based on their description of a character, make the portrait for their character, provide advice for players wanting to build certain characters, etc. That is going to be a demand, and it would be foolish of WOTC not to fill it.
 



Status
Not open for further replies.

Related Articles

Remove ads

Remove ads

Top