Hasbro has launched an AI studio called Sixth Wall and a new model it calls behavioral licensing, letting brands license how characters like Optimus Prime think, speak and interact. It is an attempt to reclaim its IP before AI clones it for free.
When anyone can fake your characters for free, licensing how they behave is how you stay the only official version.
Hasbro has launched an AI studio called Sixth Wall and a new kind of licensing built for the AI era. It calls it behavioral licensing, and it covers how a character thinks, speaks and interacts in a live experience, not just how it looks on a poster. Optimus Prime, Megatron, Cobra Commander, Mr Potato Head and the cast of Clue are available to request at launch.
The system runs on CharacterOS, Hasbro's tool for keeping a character's personality, canon, voice and safety rules consistent across experiences. It is built with ElevenLabs for voice and a model that pays the human performers. The real driver is defensive. Hasbro's characters are already being cloned without permission across the internet, and this is the move to take back control.
The Hasbro characters you can license to think and talk at launch, from Optimus Prime to Mr Potato Head. Source: Hasbro and License Global, June 2026.
Why it matters
This is a brand owner answering an AI threat with a product instead of a lawsuit. Hasbro cannot stop people generating fake Optimus Prime content, so it is making the authorised, safe, paid version the obvious choice. That is a smart read of where brand value is heading when AI can imitate almost anything.
For any Australian brand with a recognisable character, mascot or voice, the lesson is direct. Your distinctive brand assets can now be cloned in seconds. The defence is not just legal, it is being the official, consistent, trusted version people choose over the knock-off. Consistency becomes a moat.
What to do about it
AI can copy how your brand looks. The job now is owning how it behaves, before someone else does it for you.