The chief executive of a major toymaker has shared an optimistic vision for artificial intelligence in the industry, predicting it will act as a significant productivity and creativity booster for employees. He explained that the immediate impact of AI has been a “productivity boom,” with the company projected to save approximately one million people-hours of work over the next year.
Importantly, he clarified that these savings are not expected to lead to job eliminations. Instead, the time saved will be reclaimed from lower-value tasks, such as order management and various internal processes. This will free up employees to redirect their efforts toward innovation and better serving customers and partners.
Looking further ahead, the CEO highlighted AI’s potential to fundamentally reinvent the creative process. He pointed to the combination of AI and 3D printing, which has already slashed the time required to create a full-color prototype from a drawing by a staggering 80 percent. This acceleration allows for faster iteration and the ability to dream up more ideas, ultimately leading to better products reaching the market.
While acknowledging that powerful technologies like AI come with downsides that require careful management—particularly around rights and respecting creators—he described it as an “amazingly creative and playful technology.” He believes we are only beginning to understand its potential to generate entirely new categories of toys and games.
The company is already developing several AI-driven concepts, with plans to showcase them later in the year. These initial offerings are expected to focus more on the collector market and have an adult orientation, which the company believes is the right fit for the current state of the technology. The overall sentiment is one of excitement, with the CEO calling AI “pretty magical and pretty transformative” for the future of play.
