Hasbro releases AI versions of its iconic characters, including Transformers
Optimus Prime and Megatron just became robots in more than one sense.
That's because Hasbro, the American toy and games giant behind Transformers, Power Rangers, G.I. Joe, Monopoly, Magic: The Gathering and more has released artificial intelligence versions of 12 popular characters — a move experts say could bring potential risks to kids along with the fun.
Among the familiar names are Optimus Prime, Megatron, G.I. Joe's Cobra Commander, Mr. Potato Head and the cast of the board game Clue — that's Miss Scarlett, Col. Mustard, Mayor Green, Chef White, Solicitor Peacock and Professor Plum, in case it's been a while since you last played.
The AI characters are currently available for licensed use in "experiences and enterprise use cases," the company said in a news release on Wednesday. It means you could see Autobots, Decepticons or an anthropomorphic potato as interactive brand ambassadors. You might even have a chat with them on the phone while you're on hold.
The company said it started the initiative partly because "millions of consumers are already encountering unauthorized versions of popular characters across chat, voice, gaming, and content creation platforms."
The characters will be brought to life by Sixth Wall, an AI studio Hasbro created to produce animated AI likenesses of its characters. It's also partnering with ElevenLabs, an AI company focused on human-AI interaction.
Hasbro also announced "behavourial licensing," a new type of intellectual property licensing which covers how characters act, think and speak. The company said it will be powered with system called CharacterOS, which will maintain "safety guardrails" — meaning you likely won't get much of a response if you ask Megatron what he thinks about Israel-Palestine while you're on hold.
Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said in the release that the move opens "new surfaces for play and storytelling" and addresses the issue of unauthorized use. "It gives brands a trusted way to bring characters into new AI-enabled platforms without losing what makes them authentic."
The company said that the focus will be on ages 13 and up.
"The company is not currently developing AI products targeted at young children and is actively contributing to broader industry discussions around safety standards and voluntary guardrails for AI-enabled play experiences," the release said.
Non-AI actors provided voices for the characters, and Hasbro said each character is "built using authorized source material."
"I know Megatron pretty well, and I would love to go in and ask him a few questions," Frank Welker, an actor and the long-time voice of Megatron, said in a video attached to the news release.
Hasbro did not respond to emailed questions from CBC News by the time of publication.
Experts concerned about relationships, advertisingMatthew Johnson, director of education at MediaSmarts, a digital media literacy organization, said that while it's not surprising that Hasbro is using AI, he has some concerns. The characters will be of most interest to young children, he said, even if the AI-powered programs aren't specifically meant for them.
"We've known for decades that everybody, but in particular young children, treat anything that behaves in any way as human, as though it is human — as though it has agency, as though it has an identity," he said.
That raises concerns, he said, about the formation of parasocial relationships. It's also worrying because children have difficulty recognizing advertising, and brands want to build loyalty early to sell toys to "kidults" later in life.
"There's early evidence that shows that advertising in AI is extremely persuasive," he said.
Privacy is another concern, he added, as it's unclear how data will be collected and used. AI characters used in interactions could probe consumers on how they feel about a remake of the Clue movie, or how Mr. Potato Head should be revamped for the digital age, Johnson said.
"These are the kinds of things that these companies typically pay hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to find out."
Steve DiPaola, a professor and researcher at Simon Fraser University who has employed an AI assistant in the classroom, said Hasbro's move is following a broader trend.
"There is this general notion of fans [that] want to have more personal experiences, these interactive experiences, and how do you do that?" he said.
"This isn't any different than what a lot of celebrity agencies are thinking about, too."
But DiPaola said he's concerned about Hasbro's move to have intellectual property on how fictional characters think, speak and behave.
"There is no Optimus Prime — Optimus Prime is an idea by creatives that was used in different situations and then put together," DiPaola said.
"So the notion that somehow they're bringing him to life, I think, is a bit much."
DiPaola added that Hasbro's initiative could change how fans see the characters.
"Optimus Prime doesn't sell stuff, so, already, they are not holding to the mandate of somehow, they will be stewards of Optimus Prime and all their characters," he said.
"[The] positive is 'Oh my god,' I get to talk with Optimus Prime!’ And the negative is, 'Oh my god, he's not who I thought he was, and he keeps trying to sell me hats.'"
cbc.ca
