Written by Mattel is teaming up with OpenAI.
It was just a year ago when we reported that Mattel teamed up with Adobe’s Artificial Intelligence “Firefly” software to help create & design toy packaging.
Well now it seems Mattel is turning to A.I. yet again, this time for assistance with the toys themselves (and business in general), and that collaboration will come from the company OpenAi.
However, unlike Adobe Firefly, OpenAi does not soley use stock & openly licensed content to train their Artificial Intelligence (and subsequently is facing multiple lawsuits of copyright infringement because of it).
Regardless of any potential controversies OpenAI has faced in the past, Brad Lightcap, the Chief Operating Officer at OpenAI, had this to say about their partnership with Mattel:
BRAD LIGHTCAP "We're pleased to work with Mattel as it moves to introduce thoughtful AI-powered experiences and products into its iconic brands, while also providing its employees the benefits of ChatGPT. With OpenAI, Mattel has access to an advanced set of AI capabilities alongside new tools to enable productivity, creativity, and company-wide transformation at scale."
Here is a portion of what Mattel had to say about the collaboration via a press release:
"Mattel will incorporate OpenAI’s advanced AI tools like ChatGPT Enterprise into its business operations to enhance product development and creative ideation, drive innovation, and deepen engagement with its audience. With OpenAI, Mattel will have advanced AI capabilities that can power the development and operations of consumer products and experiences."
What about talking dolls? Yes, apparently AI may also appear as an interactive feature in some toys:
"By using OpenAI’s technology, Mattel will bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences with an emphasis on innovation, privacy, and safety."
Where will this all lead? Only time will tell.
As the Bob Dylan song goes… “For the times they are a-changin’.“
We’ll see you next time.
If this wasn’t the Company behind Motu I’d instantly boycott them for that move. Funny that they say they are also giving their employees access to ChatGPT… I could place bets on Mattel Creations already using it or another LLM just by the number of typos, swapped info or just wrong product information littered across their webpage. If I want to give it a positive spin I’d have to say the sheer amount and regularity is remarkable
Mattel brought in AI to finally make a good He-Man head. 🤣
@gettinhighlander 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Roy should still proofread it.
Layoffs will be coming from this. Maybe not this year but it’s coming.
Not just in the toy industry either…
The entertainment sphere will be heavily infected with A.I. soon… along with commercial art / design, poetry, song writing, medical diagnosis, record keeping, stocks & bonds, retirement, banking, textbooks, etc., etc.
There will be almost nothing that A.I. can’t handle once it learns how to do it.
Do we really want Mattel decision-making influencing AI is the real fucking question… though tbf it could help negate the Skynet scenario:
“The Mattel series had awful heads, we spotted them easy."
“By using OpenAI’s technology, Mattel will bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences with an emphasis on innovation, privacy, and safety."
Isn’t this the same company that put adult web URLs on the packages of their Wicked dolls?
This might not end well….
Apparently Mattel is dedicated to destroying every brand they own. They really need to just start licensing MOTU out more to other companies who actually get the ip and care about it. People can say what they want about Scott but he loved the brand and took it to incredible heights – never seen before and not seen since. They either need to fire whoever is in charge or get to licensing to better toy companies.
I believe the wheels for that are already in motion (big fuss about licencing and relaunching of brands recently) and it’s already just been done by Hasbro to apparent success. Indeed those two now cross over along with studios like Nic and WB as just two examples.
One of the problems with this scenario is that we would be paying a lot more money per figure if Mattel was no longer producing them.
I hate beating a dead horse, but we all know that Mondo thinks they are God’s gift to MOTU and charge us as such… and the base price for a 6″ Ultimates! figure from Super7 is $55USD…
Sure, other companies could potentially make MOTU figures, but after licensing, tooling, painting, packaging, and promoting them, we (the consumers) would have to make up the costs.
@ornclown Well, so be it. If this is the only way to stop being snubbed, most notably with regard to NA and POP, then it’s the lesser of two evils.
I mostly agree… I do not like the prospect of paying more money for toys that I like, but if it meant we would actually get updates for guys like Staghorn, Kayo, Sagitar, Lizorr, Nocturna, Hoove, etc., then I’d be all over it.
Or they could, you know, ask the fans what they want to see made in MOTU, like they used to in the Classics days. Foreign concept now, apparently.
@durendal Oh come now… you know as well as I do that Mattel knows best. They don’t ask us what we would like to see, they TELL us… lol. 😉