Moonbug Starts AI Tests for Cocomelon Workflows With Legal and Human Review Gates

Moonbug Entertainment has asked animators to experiment with generative AI in production workflows, while setting rules around the work behind Cocomelon and its other children’s franchises. The company says generative AI is not currently used in its episodes, and requires substantial human creative input for work that reaches production.

The policy applies to the studio behind Cocomelon, Little Baby Bum, Blippi and Mia’s Magic Playground. It allows AI in ideation, scripting, storyboarding, design and animation, but attaches task-specific limits rather than treating model output as ready-made production material.

The line is assistance, not origination

Moonbug’s rules prohibit AI from originating new characters, core storylines, character arcs, major plot twists and song lyrics without specified approval. New characters, franchise-specific worlds and distinctive props that are heavily featured in a series generally must be human-created.

Permitted uses still need an artist

• Early-stage material, including visual research, mood boards, brainstorming, and references for texture, color and lighting.
• Generic elements, such as background trees or furniture, outfit changes, and 3D turnarounds based on existing human-created 2D characters.
• Refining a human-authored draft, rather than ghostwriting narrative, key dialogue or other central story material.

A legal gate and a traceable record

Each AI tool needs individual legal approval. Before using Moonbug intellectual property, employees must test tools with generic test characters and environments made by Moonbug. If a tool advances to a Moonbug project, workers must save prompts, separate AI-generated files from human-created work, and document how an artist transformed any AI asset used.

The guidelines call that file system “provenance and isolation.” Its stated goal is to preserve a path back to human-authored work for copyright ownership over core material. They also prohibit style-mimicking and soundalike prompts, including references to Pixar or Ghibli.

The experiment has not reached episodes

Moonbug says all finished work receives human-led creative and quality-control review, including frame-by-frame review and rounds of notes from creative and production teams. The company is exploring whether AI can reduce repetitive work, improve creative processes and potentially help its teams make more stories and experiences for families, rather than substitute for the people making them.