Microsoft is looking to spearhead a new era of customer support as the company’s Xbox division is rumoured to be working on an AI-powered chatbot. The Verge has claimed that some sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans for AI have stated that the software giant is testing an “embodied AI character” that comes to life with animations when responding to support queries or interactions.
The update about this feature has been shared by the General Manager of Gaming AI at Xbox Haiyan Zhang quoted by The Verge in a statement. “We are testing an Xbox Support Virtual Agent, an internal prototype of an animated character that can query Xbox Support topics with voice or text”, he said.
This development is one of Microsoft’s broader initiatives to apply AI capabilities to its Xbox platform. The primary goal of this integration is to enhance the platform and services for a seamless user experience. “The prototype makes it easier and quicker for players to get help with support topics using natural language, taking information from existing Xbox Support pages.”, Haiyan Zhang further said in the same statement.
The chatbot starts by asking the user, “How can I help you today?” Depending on the answer, it can then help you resolve the issue which can range from hardware difficulties to problems with paid subscriptions. The same report from The Verge also suggests the Xbox AI chatbot is currently being tested internally at Microsoft against support queries for the Minecraft Realms.
Microsoft is currently also considering building AI-powered Copilots for safety and moderation tasks. This also includes content moderation on the Xbox platform that will speed up the process of enforcement and appeals. This could see the company add AI-based game assistants which could help players in their gameplay.
This also includes experimentation with AI-generated in-game art and assets. It involves AI game testing and the generative AI NPCs for which the company has already partnered up with Inworld for development. Microsoft is also encouraging its customers to build to automate support tasks.
Coming back to the new development in Microsoft gaming, the broader AI efforts have still not been publicly acknowledged by Xbox employees yet. The company is currently navigating the perceptions around AI gaming with caution.
Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, has constantly been encouraging the company’s departments to think about how AI can be used in products and services. Yet, Xbox has largely been focused on the developer side of AI tools as of now.
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