Re: Hasbro CEO All-In on AI

On 9/12/2024 6:12 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks is excited about using AI in D&D.
"Inside of development, we've already been using AI" and "there's not
a single person who doesn't use AI somehow for either campaign
development or character development or story ideas. That's a clear
signal that we need to be embracing it."*
 But he also claims to play D&D with 30 or 40 people regularly, so I'm
not sure how much I believe him.

Hmm... that wasn't uncommon in earlier editions, but I don't think the current version of DnD is very good for that.

 Well, I believe him about them using AI. It's cheaper than actually
paying people, after all, and who cares if the end result is pabulum.
 I know, I know; "AI is just a tool" and "it's coming so you might as
well accept it" and all that. But nothing I've seen about AI has
indicated it makes games any _better_; just that it allows products to
be released faster and more cheaply (for the developer, anyway. I
don't really see those savings reflected in the prices I end up
paying).

The only use case I can see for AI in TTRPG games is as a quick filler for stuff that doesn't matter. I was trying to give ChatGPT some prompts, and it did manage to get what looked like properly statted NPCs and monsters in a variety of game systems. But the content also was really, really boring and trite. So if you needed a quick description of some room or item you never thought you might need, then maybe it could be useful.
It still feels like I would be betraying the spirit of the game though.
Also note the "looked like" I used in that paragraph before: the main problem with AIs right now is that they confidently will state absolutely wrong information in what sounds like confidence. When I was trying out ChatGPT it basically made up information about subjects I really knew well, and it all sounded very convincing, because that's what ChatGPT does: it makes convincing text that is roughly like something a real person would have written. It doesn't think about stuff. It doesn't know how stuff works or how stuff interrelates with each other.

 Hasbro's stance also runs counter to Wizard of the Coast's stated
countermand, requiring third-party artist to refrain from using AI
art. But I guess what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander.

Well, that's because Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast sometimes have this issue knowing what each other is doing.