D&D General Hasbro CEO Says AI Integration Has Been "A Clear Success"

However "people make the decisions and people own the creative outcomes".
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We've known for some time that Hasbro CEO--and former president of Wizards of the Coast--Chris Cocks is an avid AI supporter and enthusiast. He previously noted that of the 30-40 people he games with regularly, "there's not a single person who doesn't use AI somehow for either campaign development or character development or story ideas." In a 2025 interview he described himself as an "AI bull".

In Hasbro's latest earnings call, Cocks briefly addressed the use of AI within the company. While he mentions Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast and the digital studio teams, he doesn't specifically namecheck Dungeons & Dragons. However, he does tout Hasbro's AI integration as a "clear success", referring primarily to non-creative operations such as finances, supply chains, and general productivity enhancements, and emphasises that "people make the decisions and people own the creative outcomes". He also notes that individual teams choose whether or not to use AI.

So while it is clear that AI is deeply embedded in Hasbro's workflows, it is not clear to what extent that applies to Dungeons & Dragons. WotC has indicated multiple times that it will not use AI artwork, and its freelance contracts explicitly prohibit its use. The company also removed AI-generated artwork in 2023's Bigby's Presents: Glory of the Giants.

Before I close, I want to address AI, and how we're using it at Hasbro. We're taking a human-centric creator-led approach. AI is a tool that helps our teams move faster and focus on higher-value work, but people make the decisions and people own the creative outcomes. Teams also have choice in how they use it, including not to use it at all when it doesn't fit the work or the brand. We're beyond experimentation. We're deploying AI across financial planning, forecasting, order management, supply chain operations, training and everyday productivity. Under enterprise controls and clear guidelines around responsible use and IP protection. Anyone who knows me knows I'm an enthusiastic AI user and that mindset extends across the enterprise. We're partnering with best-in-class platforms, including Google Gemini, OpenAI and 11 labs to embed AI into workflows where it adds real value. The impact is tangible. Over the next year, we anticipate these workflows will free up more than 1 million hours of lower-value work, and we're reinvesting that capacity into innovation, creativity and serving fans. Our portfolio of IP and the creators and talent behind it are the foundation of this strategy. Great IP plus great storytelling is durable as technology evolves, and it positions us to benefit from disruption rather than being displaced by it.

In toys, AI-assisted design, paired with 3D printing has fundamentally improved our process. We've reduced time from concept to physical prototype by roughly 80%, enabling faster iteration and more experimentation with human judgment and human craft determining what ultimately gets selected and turned into a final product. We believe the winners in AI will be companies that combine deep IP, creative talent and disciplined deployment. That's exactly where Hasbro sits. As we enter 2026, we view playing to Win and more importantly, the execution behind it by our Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast and digital studio teams as a clear success.
- Chris Cocks, Hasbro CEO​

Wizards of the Coast's most recent statement on AI said "For 50 years, D&D has been built on the innovation, ingenuity, and hard work of talented people who sculpt a beautiful, creative game. That isn't changing. Our internal guidelines remain the same with regards to artificial intelligence tools: We require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the D&D TTRPG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final D&D products. We work with some of the most talented artists and creatives in the world, and we believe those people are what makes D&D great."

A small survey of about 500 users right here on EN World in April 2025 indicated that just over 60% of users would not buy D&D products made with AI.
 

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Copilot is useful for summarizing large amounts of text. Particularly in preparation for reading it or processing it.

I see lots of players making character portraits with AI. Particularly that can change as their character changes.

It’s quite useful for D&D rules searches, where the AI search engine provides links that you can follow up.

It’s good for naming things. Give me ten names for a ex pat dwarf blacksmith.

I don’t like it for developing plots. A lot of story stuff ends up being very derivative.

It’s really bad at battle maps and most Birds Eye settlement views in general. The type that would describe the layout of a village or town.

It is however here to stay. Get busy living or get busy dying.
 

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What a bunch of soulless crap. If you cannot make a damn character…there is no hope.

I read a lot about history…this includes everything from military history to medieval weapons and dress to…all kinds of stuff. I think back about cool fiction and come up with names that resonate and histories that inspire good roleplay.

Or i could just push a button. No thanks.

I understand conveniences for running a game and keeping track of the mundane…but outsourcing creativity? You have lost the point.
 
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As always, but particularly in the case of AI, the issue isn't the tech, the issue is capitalism. Though on the other hand, I don't have a right to bitch and moan about capitalism in a discussion thread on an investor relations call.
Yup. Capitalism.

Server farms could be cooled with closed loop recycled waste water . . . but instead we pull water from the local watershed, because it's cheaper and easier.
 

I just can't figure out what sane engineer or accountant or other office worker would use a tool that has a chance, however small, of hallucinating data.
 
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I just can't figure out what sane engineer or accountant or other office worker would use a tool that has a chance, however small, of hallucinating data.
You absolutely have to use AI carefully, but then you have to check the work done by humans carefully, as well. I don't see "it's not perfect" as a dealbreaker for AI. I dislike it when AI is used for things that need creative voice and authenticity, but pretty much every teacher I know now uses it for routine tasks; it's all but required. If it's an expert task (say, I'm designing a new study guide), then I'm the responsible expert and, insofar as I use AI, am responsible for checking to make sure that everything checks out. I assume the same is true in more technical professions, and I am equally sure that a lot of mistakes are going to continue to happen.
 

I just can't figure out what sane engineer or accountant or other office worker would use a tool that has a chance, however small, of hallucinating data.
Because it's the new shiny that executives want to use, regardless of risk. And if it blows up? Who cares, they get a golden parachute anyway. That's life in today's corporate America. I spend more time correcting AI than I did when I did everything manually. And even then I might not catch everything.
 

I just can't figure out what sane engineer or accountant or other office worker would use a tool that has a chance, however small, of hallucinating data.
I use it to generate code or spreadsheet cells which interacts with static data. Then run the file on some test data and verify the output. Then put in the actual data, which the Ai doesn't touch as directly.
 

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