Microsoft recently unveiled its plans to bring its AI program Copilot to its Xbox and PC games.
During its Microsoft Surface and AI event, the tech giant showed off how the AI tool could be applicable to games. Per Windows Central, the presentation featured Minecraft with the tool directly embedded in the game.
Players can use Copilot to ask things like “How do I craft a sword?,” at which point the tool helps them find the needed components. It basically works like an always-on game guide, or the PlayStation 5’s non-AI powered help system.
Minecraft is the first game to have Copilot integrated within it, but it sounds like it’ll ultimately be put within other games. It’s unclear if this is being done with first-party Xbox titles to begin with.
While Copilot was formally unveiled last year, Microsoft’s plans to include AI into the Xbox ecosystem is more recent. Gen-AI powered tools are being eyed for narrative design and writing, and an AI chatbot is looked at for help with customer service.
Having a tool that grants answers and assistance to players may change how games are made, particularly ones with obtuse mechanics. It’ll also inevitably change how games are written about, as several websites do guides in busy release periods.
If there’s a problem in games that Copilot is meant to solve, it’s yet to make itself noticeable. As is, it feels like a tool with a predetermined purpose instead of meeting a specific need.
For Microsoft, this AI focus is further complicated by its devotion to being carbon negative by the end of the 2020s. AI models are reportedly very energy-intensive, and the company’s greenhouse gas emissions grew by 30 percent last year.