D&D General Todd Kenreck Let Go from WotC

[Remathilis]

BREAKING: Wizards of the Coast to lay off all employees, and generate all future content with AI.

I'd love to see an interview video of an AI Todd asking questions to an AI designer and watching the system go full recursion on itself. By the end of that interview, it would be hallucinating so bad that reality wouldn't even be in the rearview mirror.

 

[bedir than]

Sure, but if using AI loses them more money than it saves, they might not do it anyway.

It’s been 9 months since Chris Cocks spoke about AI, and so far we have not seen any changes to the products by WotC.

He also doesn't talk about using it as an output service, but to aid on the backend with analysis, formatting, etc

 

[Remathilis]

Having a severely reduced writing staff throwing out Chat GPT prompts for monster designs, new spells, new magic items, archetypes, etc. Then doing a little clean up, throw it in a book, and ship it.

You are grossly oversimplifying the process. It's not as easy as saying "generate me a 1st - 12th level adventure featuring mind flayers" and getting Phandelver and Below. Even using an AI that isn't going to hallucinate stuff you can't use, a real designer is going the adventure scenarios and make sure they make sense, real editors are going to and to check for 100 hp CR 1/2 goblins, and real playtesters are going to have to check to see if it all works. Then there are the artists making art and maps that matches the text, layout designers putting it all together and of course marketing (this IS a thread about Todd after all).

Could AI do much of this? Well, if WotC is willing to sell "slop" I guess so. Considering how much they took it on the chin for unauthorized AI art in Bigby and with MTG ads, I find it unlikely they are prompt generating much of this stuff in sufficient enough quality to lay off large amounts of staff. They are still trying to hold up a reputation, such as it is.

Then again, when we see a six-fingered Eliminster on the cover of Eliminster's Guide to Eberron and the Multiverse of Everything, I think we'll have our answer.

 

[Umbran]

And Chat GPT is practically Free compared to 10-20 game designers working on projects.

At the moment, it is.

But, at the moment, it also cannot do the job you suggest.

If it manages to become that good (which it may not, for technical reasons), the providers of the system will ask for more money, after making it extremely awkward to get off the system...

Also, iirc, the current precedent is that AI generated material cannot be copyright-protected. Maybe they'll go all-in on it, but that may mean revenue drops because pirating it will cease to be illegal.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That is possible, I haven't looked into that area as much. That doesn't really change my point though.

Maybe, but a thing that saves them money and is easy to do is more likely to be done than a similar thing that saves them money but is being put under a judgemental microscope by the internet.

 

[Micah Sweet]

He also doesn't talk about using it as an output service, but to aid on the backend with analysis, formatting, etc

But possible benefit would there be for him to tell the public they were thinking of using AI as an output service?

 

[mamba]

You are grossly oversimplifying the process. It's not as easy as saying "generate me a 1st - 12th level adventure featuring mind flayers" and getting Phandelver and Below. Even using an AI that isn't going to hallucinate stuff you can't use, a real designer is going the adventure scenarios and make sure they make sense

picked a bad example there…

 

[Micah Sweet]

You are grossly oversimplifying the process. It's not as easy as saying "generate me a 1st - 12th level adventure featuring mind flayers" and getting Phandelver and Below. Even using an AI that isn't going to hallucinate stuff you can't use, a real designer is going the adventure scenarios and make sure they make sense, real editors are going to and to check for 100 hp CR 1/2 goblins, and real playtesters are going to have to check to see if it all works. Then there are the artists making art and maps that matches the text, layout designers putting it all together and of course marketing (this IS a thread about Todd after all).

Could AI do much of this? Well, if WotC is willing to sell "slop" I guess so. Considering how much they took it on the chin for unauthorized AI art in Bigby and with MTG ads, I find it unlikely they are prompt generating much of this stuff in sufficient enough quality to lay off large amounts of staff. They are still trying to hold up a reputation, such as it is.

Then again, when we see a six-fingered Eliminster on the cover of Eliminster's Guide to Eberron and the Multiverse of Everything, I think we'll have our answer.

Again, the AI art thing is being deeply watched. They might be able to get away with some AI writing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

At the moment, it is.

But, at the moment, it also cannot do the job you suggest.

If it manages to become that good (which it may not, for technical reasons), the providers of the system will ask for more money, after making it extremely awkward to get off the system...

Also, iirc, the current precedent is that AI generated material cannot be copyright-protected. Maybe they'll go all-in on it, but that may mean revenue drops because pirating it will cease to be illegal.

Only if people find out and can prove it's AI work.

 

[Staffan]

You are grossly oversimplifying the process. It's not as easy as saying "generate me a 1st - 12th level adventure featuring mind flayers" and getting Phandelver and Below. Even using an AI that isn't going to hallucinate stuff you can't use, a real designer is going the adventure scenarios and make sure they make sense, real editors are going to and to check for 100 hp CR 1/2 goblins, and real playtesters are going to have to check to see if it all works. Then there are the artists making art and maps that matches the text, layout designers putting it all together and of course marketing (this IS a thread about Todd after all).

I can in theory see generative AI used for "drudge work". Not at the adventure design level, but something like "CR 5 psionic humanoid with a ranged attack that deals psychic damage", and then the AI fills in the numerical blanks. That bit might work better in a system like Pathfinder 2 though where creature stats are more tightly controlled and tied to CR.