Hasbro really can’t catch a break—nor do I think it deserves one. The parent company of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering is both a large enough corporation to take its licks from punters like me, but it’s also had a decade filled with missteps. Adding one more onto the pile, it’s been reported that the company is trying to sign away the voice rights of children to AI.
That’s per a combination of both an open letter from the Agents of Young Performers Association, and a report from Deadline linking the letter to Peppa Pig. The letter reads:
“A major studio who owns the IP for an international children’s franchise producing a long running animated television series has offered contracts to child voice actors insisting that they agree to the use of AI thus allowing them to use the child’s voice in all commercial assets within their franchise.
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“The refusal to remove this clause with an attitude of ‘take it or leave it’ has led us [to] write this letter to make it clear that this will not be accepted and to bring this matter to the attention of the wider industry.” The letter has over 1,000 confirmed signatures.
Hasbro’s track record over the past decade has been poor, just off the top of my head, Hasbro’s sicced the Pinkertons on someone who got MTG cards early, laid off 1,100 people, including those involved with the deal that produced Baldur’s Gate 3, and engaged in both heavy anti-union action and has an AI-obsessed CEO. It also bungled the bag on both its VTT Sigil and cancelled a game from the JedI: Fallen Order director.
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But even this feels beyond the pale for an already reputationally-tarred company, if the accusations of that open letter are to be taken at full face value. Hasbro did not comment on the specifics to Deadline, but did give the following paragraph of waffle:
“The protection of child performers is core to who Hasbro is, it’s part of our DNA. As industry standards around AI continue to evolve, we are committed to engaging with this issue in a responsible and transparent manner.”
I don’t know about you, but any contract encouraging the rights to a child’s voice be usable by AI makes my skin crawl—it’s an issue of consent. I wouldn’t agree with a grown-up actor’s choice to sign on similar rights, but as an adult that’s their choice to make.
The prospect of a kid (who would need their parents present to understand and agree to such a contract for them) getting roped into a contract where their voice can be replicated via AI is… yikes. There’s no real “responsible or transparent manner” to be had.
More to the point, this doesn’t bode well for Hasbro’s future videogames, either. Voice actors have been grappling with AI nonsense since the tech was introduced, with long strikes required to negotiate fair and equitable contracts. Strikes which I once more have to emphasise were done by adults, capable of organising and advocating for themselves. Not children.
