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."

 

[mearls]

It's interesting. The idea is that you license from Hasbro the right to have an interactive character. Let's say I have a digital assistant app. I can license an AI character of Optimus Prime. Optimus speaks in his voice and behaves as Optimus should. He knows his background, canon, and so on. The model is built to be an interactive version of him.

If you did this for something like Alexa, your device doesn't just sound like Optimus. You'd interact with the character. He'd fulfill requests and talk to you as if you were talking to Optimus Prime.

What's really interesting is that based on what I read on the site, the voice actor gets royalties. If I license Peppa Pig, the voice actor they used to build the training data gets a cut. That's really smart business. If you are the voice actor for an iconic Hasbro character, they're taking care of you. Nice contrast to how a lot of companies are trying to use AI.

It also makes senses for licensees. They'd want an authentic voice for their app, toy, or whatever.

 

[Retreater]

What's really interesting is that based on what I read on the site, the voice actor gets royalties. If I license Peppa Pig, the voice actor they used to build the training data gets a cut. That's really smart business. If you are the voice actor for an iconic Hasbro character, they're taking care of you. Nice contrast to how a lot of companies are trying to use AI.

Yeah. And meanwhile they never have to hire you to perform ever again once the algorithm is created. Congratulations, you're never needed in the industry again.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Is this about AI-chatbots? Is it to publish your own fanart stories?

Could this be useful to give a new chance to totally forgotten Hasbro IPs? For example brands from the acquired "Galoop". What if I wanted a reimagination of a known brand? For example mixing G.I.Joe and the TTRPG "Gamma World" to create a post-apocaliptic world with vibes of 80 Saturday morning cartoon, or a remake of "Golden Girl and the Guardian of the Gemstones" as a soft parody of isekai and magical-girl mangas and more focused into comedy.

Or the characters from "Transfomers: Kiss Players" for a more family-friendly plot where Marissa, Shaoshao and Atari are a sci-fi version of magical-girls but with Cybertronian superpowers.

Sorry, perhaps I haven't understood it correctly and I've started rambling again about possible projects for the future

* If the intention is chatbots with Hasbro characters you can also do it in other webs, even you could choose SFW or NSFW tone.

 

[Dire Bare]

Yeah. And meanwhile they never have to hire you to perform ever again once the algorithm is created. Congratulations, you're never needed in the industry again.

I think you're missing part of what @mearls is saying.

As a voice actor, if you pay me each time somebody licenses the character I voice . . . you don't need to hire me again, but I also don't need you to. I'm getting my cut. I can go on and do other voice work.

Generative AI is scary and is being used unethically by so many big companies . . . but that doesn't mean it can't be used ethically.

What @mearls describes sounds like a pretty ethical use of generative AI. We'll see how well this actually does once it launches and somebody actually licenses Optimus Prime or the other available characters.

 

[mearls]

It's also worth noting that the site says that the voice actors had a say in determining the scope of the AI character. In theory, a voice actor could limit the lines to a certain length and otherwise put guardrails that make it impractical to use the voice for an animated TV show.

 

[josephikrakow]

Just give me the 3.5 SRD already.

This but put 4e on the OGL(and give us an SRD)

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

What if I wanted a reimagination of certain characters? For example my fantart story of sword&sorcery is about a word ruled by the tirany of the cobra cult, and this is a mash-up version of the fictional terrorist group Cobra, the archienemies of G.I.Joe, or a postapocaliptic story where the antagonist group are the dreadnoks, a Cobra subfaction.

 

[Minion X]

Mr. Monopoly will look great giving people advice on buying crypto.

 

[Guest 7056707]

Yeah. And meanwhile they never have to hire you to perform ever again once the algorithm is created. Congratulations, you're never needed in the industry again.

Tbh i think you're jumping to conclusions lol no one really knows what this means at the moment.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

What if I wanted a reimagination of certain characters? For example my fantart story of sword&sorcery is about a word ruled by the tirany of the cobra cult, and this is a mash-up version of the fictional terrorist group Cobra, the archienemies of G.I.Joe, or a postapocaliptic story where the antagonist group are the dreadnoks, a Cobra subfaction.

Hite a teal artist or pick a pencil