Wizards of the Coast is hiring a senior AI engineer for customer-facing features

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.

Emphasis highlights by Faith Elisabeth Lilley
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[Stormonu]

Several have mentioned the Holodeck on Star Trek. Yet one of the frequently pictured activities on STNG was the in person poker games at a physical table with cards and chips.

Well, you also have that episode where Data was playing poker with Einstein, Hawking and Newton in the holodeck...

I've been playing around with AI quite a bit, and it's helped me on some of my D&D projects - and I have even been experimenting with it as a DM for solo gaming (as a forever DM, I don't get many chances to be on the other side of the screen). It's nowhere as good as a honest-to-goodness person, but it's helped me get past some writer's block and introduced me to avenues of thought I wouldn't have contemplated by myself. Its ability to conjure up an image from my descriptions has been a hoot (when it's not frustrating) and perhaps what I've found myself using the most (my own drawing skills suck and I've been off-and-on with them for a good 40+ years).

In a way, I feel like we're in the 90's where computer-generated effects (CGI) were just starting to show up in shows and movies and a lot of it was garbage. But its gotten better, there's some amazing visual effects in movies these days. I think the LLMs/AI we're seeing today will progress along a similar route - it's an eyesore now for many, but give it a few years and most will be using it without really noticing it.

In the past, I've used randomly generated dungeons (one came on the 3E D&D demo disk) - this is one more step along that path.
I'm especially interested in seeing what the NPC dialogue assistant will be like, and my brother has been using an AI notetaker app that spits out a session summary at the end (something that used to take hours for himself to do after the session was finished).

So, there's some good and bad coming with this, I'm looking for the good and hoping the developers work to fix the bad.

 

[abazaba]

Even worse we know how dangerous it is but because it's so much fun we're addicted and continue to use it no matter how many times it almost kills us.

We are Borg Bored. Resistance is futile.

 

[abazaba]

Well, you also have that episode where Data was playing poker with Einstein, Hawking and Newton in the holodeck...

I've been playing around with AI quite a bit, and it's helped me on some of my D&D projects - and I have even been experimenting with it as a DM for solo gaming (as a forever DM, I don't get many chances to be on the other side of the screen). It's nowhere as good as a honest-to-goodness person, but it's helped me get past some writer's block and introduced me to avenues of thought I wouldn't have contemplated by myself. Its ability to conjure up an image from my descriptions has been a hoot (when it's not frustrating) and perhaps what I've found myself using the most (my own drawing skills suck and I've been off-and-on with them for a good 40+ years).

In a way, I feel like we're in the 90's where computer-generated effects (CGI) were just starting to show up in shows and movies and a lot of it was garbage. But its gotten better, there's some amazing visual effects in movies these days. I think the LLMs/AI we're seeing today will progress along a similar route - it's an eyesore now for many, but give it a few years and most will be using it without really noticing it.

In the past, I've used randomly generated dungeons (one came on the 3E D&D demo disk) - this is one more step along that path.
I'm especially interested in seeing what the NPC dialogue assistant will be like, and my brother has been using an AI notetaker app that spits out a session summary at the end (something that used to take hours for himself to do after the session was finished).

So, there's some good and bad coming with this, I'm looking for the good and hoping the developers work to fix the bad.

I kinda agree here. However, it does sadden me somehow.

 

[Umbran]

I think that AI is literally the rape of artists.

Mod note:
I am no fan of generative AI for most things, but having your content taken and used without payment is not much like physical sexual assault, and we'd ask that you not make analogy to such going forward. Thanks.

 

[Stormonu]

I kinda agree here. However, it does sadden me somehow.

I can feel you - the thought of Skynet and similar cautionary tales is never far from my mind in all this. As long as it remains a tool to supplement human knowledge/activity I'm not against it. Those taking the avenue to replace folks with it, I think are in the wrong - and mostly corporations being the soulless entities that they are at heart.

 

[KYRON45]

Jet packs, colonies on the moon, VR that doesn't make us sick and Y2K armageddon.
This reminds me of the "what have the Romans done for us?" Skit from Life of Brian.
Sure science has given us some really cool stuff.....but what about the stuff it never delivered? I'm looking at you Foodarackacycle!!!

 

[ART!]

A person walking around in a gallery and picking which piece they like vs. the artists who MADE those paintings.

This reminds me of what I was taught in art school about art criticism (and which I've referenced before in these forums, so my apologies if it's annoying), and that is that art criticism is not about what you like and what you don't like - those are opinions, which are fine and interesting. Art criticism, though, is about understanding the medium at hand, its history, methods, movements, traditions, the artist and their approach, and that sort of thing.

Getting an ai to generate an image that's exactly the way you want it to be - as I understand it, that's not art, artists don't works like that, and don't want that.

 

[abazaba]

This reminds me of what I was taught in art school about art criticism (and which I've referenced before in these forums, so my apologies if it's annoying), and that is that art criticism is not about what you like and what you don't like - those are opinions, which are fine and interesting. Art criticism, though, is about understanding the medium at hand, its history, methods, movements, traditions, the artist and their approach, and that sort of thing.

Getting an ai to generate an image that's exactly the way you want it to be - as I understand it, that's not art, artists don't works like that, and don't want that.

I used to create somewhat 'fantasy' themed drawings when I was younger. When drawing, I absolutely never ever thought about history, methods, movements, traditions, an approach, or anything like those things at all. I just took a pencil and put it to the paper. Does any of that mean it just 'is not art' ?

 

[ART!]

I used to create somewhat 'fantasy' themed drawings when I was younger. When drawing, I absolutely never ever thought about history, methods, movements, traditions, an approach, or anything like those things at all. I just took a pencil and put it to the paper. Does any of that mean it just 'is not art' ?

Heck no! Maybe I wasn't being clear. I was talking about experiencing a work of art. Making art is a very different thing, but the comment I was responding to made me think about the art criticism end of things.

 

[Umbran]

I used to create somewhat 'fantasy' themed drawings when I was younger. When drawing, I absolutely never ever thought about history, methods, movements, traditions, an approach, or anything like those things at all. I just took a pencil and put it to the paper. Does any of that mean it just 'is not art' ?

No.

And I can like or dislike a piece, even if I know very little about art.

But proper criticism or analysis (of anything, really) takes into account history, methods, movements, and traditions, even if you, the artist, are not thinking of those things. Criticism is not just of the piece, but of the piece in that larger context.