Wizards Backsteps On Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks' AI Talks

Evangel of Synthesis || Denman Rooke

On March 1st, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks made some bold claims in an interview with Venture Beat. In that interview, he claimed that Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, both games under the care of Wizards of the Coast, could be mined for AI utilization. On March 15th, amid pressure from artists to clarify this and perhaps backtrack this stance, Wizards reiterated their previously established stance against using AI art.

In the interview, Cocks waxed poetic about the potential that generative AI could have on Wizards' games:

"The advantage we have - it's funny. This is cutting-edge technology, and Hasbro is a 100-year-old company, which you don't usually think is-usually you think there's a threat there. But when you talk about the richness of the lore and the depth of the brands-D&D has 50 years of content that we can mine. Literally thousands of adventures that we've created, probably tens of millions of words we own and can leverage. Magic: The Gathering has been around for 35 years, more than 15,000 cards we can use in something like that."

- Chris Cocks to Venture Beat, March 1st, 2024

According to Magic artist Denman Rooke, he and other artists penned an open letter to Wizards and Hasbro on March 15th affirming their collective stance against Gen AI. "If Chris Cocks or anyone else in senior positions at Hasbro or Wizards of the Coast thinks the works I or other artists, art directors, writers, dungeon masters, or creative humans have poured into these games are 'content that we can mine' with AI, then I will have to take my future creative energy elsewhere," Rooke writes.

I've sent this email to art directors I've worked with at Wizards of the Coast. I hope other Magic or D&D artists will do the same or similar.#mtgart #dndart #MagicTheGathering https://t.co/7DLoullwzN pic.twitter.com/RrzXTdAGEk

— Denman Rooke (@DenmanRooke) March 15, 2024

Not long after Rooke sent the email, Wizards replied, thanking him for speaking out. Wizards also reiterated their stance against the use of Gen AI for their artwork. For the time being, this is a helpful update. It also bears some degree of good news for many opposing the looming future that AI could present.

There's Always a Caveat

That said, Hasbro's and Wizards' upper management has exhibited an almost mercurial sense of fickleness at times. Even their employees have accused the upper brass of lying about the state of policy and longevity in the workplace. Amid the layoffs of December 2023, Commander's Herald interviewed an ex-employee who got laid off. That employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us about one such instance from Chris Cocks himself.

We had several Townhall Q&As with [Human Resources], Cynthia Williams, and Chris Cocks where this was brought up. In the one with Cynthia, she responded to HR's comment of "we are killing it" by correcting her and saying we actually were not. [...] When this was brought up in the Chris Cocks Townhall, he commented about it being more towards the toys division and that changes would be made.

This ultimately proved untrue when in December, Cocks announced approximately 1,100 layoffs across the board, not just within the toys division of Hasbro.

Chris Cocks Doesn't Crow Alone

There is more to this story, however. The Venture Beat interview with Cocks also resurrected a discussion about AI in Magic card design from June 13th, 2023. On that day, Magic Head Designer Mark Rosewater answered a question on his "Blogatog" Tumblr page.

User bardakus asked, "Hey Mark, bit of an oddball question: What do you think of using artificial intelligence specifically to assist with play design and balancing?" To this, Rosewater replied, "I believe there will come a day where AI is a tool we use for design, but there are a whole host of issues to work through before we get there." Rosewater's answer came long before any of Cocks' sentiments, but they are no less worrisome for those who oppose AI designs in Magic: The Gathering.

Ultimately, other outlets have voiced their concern about the looming issue of AI within Magic. On March 13th, press outlet Wargamer ran an article about Cocks' optimism in using AI for Magic and D&D. In it, Wargamer rehashed Rosewater's aforementioned sentiments as well. Users on Twitter continue to share that article at the time of writing this one. In doing so, they almost unanimously seem to share the sentiment that Cocks and Rosewater's optimism is poorly placed. Many of the tweets surrounding the article originate from a rather pithy tweet by Kelly McKernan, an illustrator not affiliated with Wizards or Hasbro:

Oh fuuuuuck this. pic.twitter.com/FKNnrDzRop

— Kelly McKernan 🔜 C2E2 I-11 (@Kelly_McKernan) March 13, 2024

Commander's Herald is no stranger to this overall story. In January, following the use of AI in a Ravnica Remastered advertisement and a subsequent apology and policy change, we covered the ongoing discussion in an opinion-editorial piece. We also covered artist Karla Ortiz's ongoing lawsuit against Stability AI, an art-scraping training tool for Midjourney.

On March 19th, Hasbro released a statement elaborating on its stance regarding AI. We will provide updates as this story continues to develop.