Microsoft, like every other big tech company, is on an artificial intelligence (AI) crusade at the moment. As such, it is no surprise that it has announced Copilot for gaming.
The announcement came during most recent episode of the official Xbox Podcast, where corporate VP of Gaming AI at Microsoft, Fatima Kardar, confirmed its arrival, along with a handful of other AI-powered features.
Kardar confirmed that “Xbox Insiders can get an early preview of on mobile soon,” although she did not provide a more precise date, nor did she make any mention of when a wider rollout is planned.
“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. Copilot for Gaming will be there when you need it but out of the way if you don’t,” reads a description of the newly announced offering per an Xbox Wire blog post.
“Gaming is the only form of entertainment where you can get stuck. So that’s where you want something to show up to say, ‘let’s help you get past that,” added Kardar in the podcast above.
Stressing that the player remains in control and that Copilot will not perform any of the actual playing.
“It is designed to assist players in various ways, from personalized game recommendations and seamless game setup to helpful coaching and maintaining connections with friends,” the blog continued.
While it’s unclear how the general gaming community will react to such a feature once it is rolled out in full, having assistance when playing a game might prove useful, potentially saving time or the need to visit forums to find out how to beat or get past particularly tricky points in a game.
That said, such elements can also add to the experience and sense of accomplishment, not to mention how communities flourish on such forums.
As such, it will be interesting to see how Microsoft puts this new feature to work, or more specifically, when, as Kardar explained.
“It’s not just about AI showing up to help you, it’s about AI showing up at the right moment. We really have to think about the experience we’ve built, it cannot be intrusive,” she emphasized.
