Hot off the heels of Hasbro announcing a new AI studio, WotC--the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons--is advertising a vacancy on LinkedIn for a senior AI engineer.
The advertisement talks about customer facing features, AI tech in products, and systems for player assistance, tutorials, and NPC behaviours.
Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks has talked frequently about the use of AI in Hasbro's workflows as a whole, lauding AI integration as a "clear success", and describing himself as an "AI Bull". WotC has always maintained that its two main products, Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: the Gathering, would not use the technology, and has previously removed artwork from products when it has transpired that they were created with AI tools. The publisher'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." Chris Cocks himself said earlier this year that there are "some brands that the audience, the creators, just don’t want it, so we don’t even have it in our pipelines for our video games or for Magic: The Gathering, or D&D."
However, this job advertisement is clearly posted by WotC specifically, and talks about customer facing features and NPC behaviours. While that doesn't necessarily point to AI-created D&D books or artwork, it does strongly imply that AI-powered tools might be appearing in customer-facing locations such as D&D Beyond, rather than just behind-the-scenes project management and workflow processes.
