Hasbro launches AI studio, allowing third parties to license Hasbro IP

Hasbro is launching its own AI studio, with an aim to license out its various IPs to third parties while sticking within company guidelines. Today, Hasbro announced that it was launching Sixth Wall, a new AI studio that will use Hasbro's slate of IP characters, such as Optimus Prime, Mr. Potato Head, and the cast of Clue, all voiced by real voice actors. According to Sixth Wall's CEO, the company was founded out of a desire to limit "unauthorized versions" of their character by offering versions that could be licensed out in various ways. The company has created its own platform called CharacterOS, with characters acting within guardrails set by the company. According to Sixth Wall's website, the initial cast of characters available include Mr. Potato Head, Mister Monopoly, four characters from Transformers, Cobra Commander, and the cast of Clue. More characters will be added after launch, although Hasbro did not indicate what IPs they'd be pulled from. EN World has reached out to Wizards for clarification.

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks has long been an advocate of AI, although not all of Hasbro's studios has supported AI integration. Most notably, Wizards of the Coast has said that it prohibited generative AI to be used by freelancers in the making of either Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering and has further stressed that both games are made "by people, for people."

 

[CommodoreKong]

While this article doesn't directly mention if you'll be able to license D&D or M:tG via this platform I would assume it would be coming sooner or later:

“Every IP owner looks at all of the millions of unauthorized versions of their characters on other tech platforms and frontier models, and it’s not a great experience for fans, and it’s not on brand for us,” says Sixth Wall CEO Roberta Thomson, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “So you have a few choices as an IP owner: You could decide to enforce on everything, whack a mole, send a bunch of cease and desists. You could decide to enable the UGC directly with consumers … but the question we posed was, what if we just offered the authorized end-to-end blue check version of the character that a company could license from us? And then we can guarantee that they’re going to show up in a context that we already approve of and feel comfortable with, and show up in a way that is within the guardrails that we have set with the character.”


“Right now all of our IP is sitting in static media, trapped in a toy on a shelf, a movie, a video game, but as these characters come to life and interact and speak in real-time, you have to govern their behavior, which is a different set of technical and brand challenges, and it’s that expertise that we’ve developed,” she adds.


So the company has developed its own internal platform called CharacterOS (Thomson calls it a “golden record” for each piece of IP), that sets guardrails and personality traits for each character. Mr. Potato Head, for example, won’t be giving any tips on how to cook the best french fry. Cobra Commander is primarily focused on conquering planet earth, not giving power lunch recommendations, as The Hollywood Reporter tried to get out of him in a voice chat.

More that the link:

Hasbro Launching an AI Studio That Will Let Companies License Its Stable of Characters

Characters like Mr. Potato Head, Optimus Prime and Cobra Commander are among the initial list of Hasbro IP, with the company working with the original voice actors to enable it.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Alzrius]

Under Hasbro's oversight, AI continues to inch ever closer to D&D.

 

[jdrakeh]

Inevitable, really. I hate it.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

I hope it crashes and burns sooner than later

 

[Gradine]

 

[TravDoc42]

Grossssss

 

[AlViking]

Every company is struggling to figure out what to do with AI. If you actually read the article instead of just the typical knee-jerk AI BAD!!! They acknowledge that a lot of their stuff is being replicated by AI and they want to license - not for film or TV but for personal use. They've also paying the original voice actors to support the project.

This is about creating an AI Mr. Potato head that can chat with you or potentially be in a game on your phone. Not great in many ways but also has nothing to do with D&D now or in the foreseeable future.

 

[Clint_L]

They’ve included the original voice actors, which is good news and hopefully part of a trend.

 

[Professor Murder]

Gross but may not come to anything. Disney stuck their neck out for AI and retreated rather quickly when fortunes changed.