Quick Summary
Microsoft is bringing an AI assistant to Xbox that'll provide useful information to gamers.
The Copilot-driven feature will be optional and is coming to mobile first.
We've all experienced those controller-throwing moments when a game gets annoying – the object you don't know where to use, the exit you can't find, the boss who doesn't seem to have any weak points. However, Microsoft might have the ideal solution. Literally.
It believes (as with many things these days) AI can help.
The company has been working on a specific version of Copilot for Gaming, which will bring AI assistance to your Xbox.
Announced with an "early prototype" demo on the Official Xbox Podcast, it showed a Minecraft player picking up a bit of wood and asking Copilot what to do with it.
Copilot was also asked to re-install Age of Empires IV, and what to do in Overwatch when their chosen character had already been grabbed by another player.
In each case the AI feature offered useful information or, in the case of Age of Empires, installed the game and offered the player a recap of their last session.
It's clear that Microsoft is investing heavily in AI for gaming. Last month, it announced Muse AI, an artificial intelligence toolkit for game development that can update older Xbox games to make them playable on current hardware.
This isn't Clippy for COD
Microsoft says that you won't be forced to use the feature. According to Xbox corporate vice president of gaming AI Fatima Kardar, "it cannot be intrusive".
You also shouldn't expect a more modern version of the infamous Microsoft Office assistant Clippy, getting in your face when you don't need it: "It's not just about AI showing up to help you. It's about AI showing up at the right moment," Kardar added.
It sounds like it could be quite useful, but there might be a big downside too, many gaming websites get a lot of their income from publishing gaming guides, and this AI feature sounds like it could prove to be a big threat.
But I'm speculating here, we're in the very early stages of Copilot for Gaming and we won't know for some time what it can actually deliver and whether gamers will embrace it.
Copilot on Gaming will initially be available on mobile for Xbox Insiders, and Microsoft says it'll be available to them "very soon".
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