Microsoft is preparing to add “artificial intelligence” — a complete misnomer that everyone continues to use nonetheless — to its video game platforms via the upcoming Copilot for Gaming program. An “early preview” is coming to mobile for Xbox Insiders soon, but we got our first look at how the gameplay assistant may function on the March 13 episode of The Official Xbox Podcast.
“This AI-driven sidekick is designed to be your personalized gaming companion, helping you get to your favorite games faster, coaching you to improve your skills, and connecting you better with your friends and communities,” Jeff Rubenstein, director of Xbox editorial, explained on Xbox Wire. “Copilot for Gaming will be there when you need it but out of the way if you don’t.”
A couple of the proof-of-concept Copilot for Gaming examples shown on The Official Xbox Podcast include suggesting items to create in Minecraft based on what’s in the player’s inventory and providing an on-screen strategy guide for defeating a siege engine in Age of Empires IV.
The big question mark about Copilot for Gaming — and really anything that presents itself as “artificial intelligence” — is how it’s getting its information and from where. This technology isn’t learning in any real sense, but simply acting as a personalized search engine sifting through the terabytes of illicitly obtained data OpenAI uses to train its GPT-4 large language model. Copilot for Gaming could very well be pulling info from any number of guides from sites like Polygon, Kotaku, and IGN or even tips shared on Reddit, ResetEra, and GameFAQs.
It’s also hard to take Microsoft at its word that one of Copilot for Gaming’s goals is “connecting you better with your friends” when The Official Xbox Podcast host Ethan Rothamel eagerly envisions a future where he won’t have to help guide his mom, who picked up gaming during COVID, through levels of Human Fall Flat anymore. Why share any sort of connection with your loved ones, especially those not previously predisposed to gaming, when you can pawn them off on an AI assistant instead?
Polygon is in the process of asking Microsoft about these concerns and will report back when we learn more.
The post Microsoft’s Copilot for Gaming preview leaves us with more questions than it answers appeared first on Polygon.
