Posted in: Collectibles, Comics, Games, Movies, TV | Tagged: gi joe, hasbro, peppa pig, transformers

Hasbro Going AI with Optimus Prime, Megatron, Cobra Commander & More

Hasbro's AI studio, Sixth Wall, is teaming with ElevenLabs to offer Optimus Prime, Megatron, Peppa Pig, and other characters for licensing.

What do the "Transformers'" Optimus Prime and Megatron, "G.I. Joe's" Cobra Commander, Mr. Potato Head, Peppa Pig, and the characters from Monopoly and Clue (like Mr. Monopoly) have in common? They're being thrown into the AI mix, courtesy of a new deal between Hasbro's AI studio, Sixth Wall, and AI audio company ElevenLabs to offer select Hasbro characters as part of the company's Iconic Marketplace. What that means is that a total of 12 characters – along with their celebrity voices and likenesses – will be made available for licensing for commercial use, and those are available now (with Peppa Pig shown only as a demo during the presentation).

The company rolled out a new category, Behavioral Licensing, meant to preserve each character's personality, canon, and voice while in use. In addition, safety guardrails are expected to be in place when it comes to any future interactive experiences (with Sixth Wall's CharacterOS powering the licensing requirements). In terms of voice actors – like Peter Cullen's work on Optimus Prime and Frank Welker's work on Megatron, for example – their performances will be included. In instances where a character didn't previously have a voice, voice actors were brought in. During today's rollout, it was noted that the new deal includes a talent participation model that will compensate performers and only utilize authorized recordings.

"We've approached this with very detailed and robust asset guardrails, so starting right from the whole direction of the character itself," Sixth Wall CEO Bertie Thomson shared during today's event. "You have so many brand-new atmospheres and opportunities where their characters can be dynamic and interactive." Dustin Blank, ElevenLabs' head of partnerships, added, "This partnership is really the first of its kind, where businesses of all kinds can now come to ElevenLabs, and they can request to license these iconic characters from Hasbro today. It really sets the stage for the future of licensing."

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