Xbox Is Integrating Copilot And It’s About As Useful As You’d Expect

Gaming’s richest entities are rushing to incorporate artificial intelligence into its products. And while the implementation has been pretty gross thus far, it’s not slowing down the industry’s leaders in the slightest. Xbox is the latest to jump aboard the trend, presenting a fairly cumbersome way to solve onboarding issues for newer players.

Microsoft is introducing Copilot for Gaming, a version of the company’s AI specifically tailored for folks playing video games on Xbox and PC. The feature will first roll out via the Xbox mobile app, and is intended to be a second screen experience. According to the minds behind developing the project, this version of Copilot is meant to help new players smooth over some of the more intimidating aspects of the hobby while providing helpful information and feedback to more seasoned players.

As excited as Microsoft’s top minds seemed about the technology, the short video demonstration of how Copilot can be used didn’t exactly fill us with the same feelings. The first demonstration was of a player asking the Xbox App to install Age Of Empires 4 on her console. The AI obeyed, and offered the woman a recap of the last thing she was doing in the game.

Later on, the woman, stumped by a challenging part of the game, asked Copilot to pull up a strategy guide (which no doubt featured information lifted from one of the dozens of guides written by actual guide writers) to help her through an encounter. The most puzzling implementation was when it helped her join a few friends that wanted to play an online game of Sea Of Thieves. A Microsoft spokesperson told Inverse that Copilot “will be able to recognize when friends are online, suggest things based on the player’s past activities, and help them jump into gameplay together more seamlessly.” However, it’s unclear how using Copilot to join a game of Sea Of Thieves is quicker or more efficient than receiving and approving an invite from the Guide menu.

Of all these features, the one with actual potential is the summary of what players were doing last. There have been countless times I’ve returned to a story-rich RPG months after I last played, only to find myself completely lost. But while an AI could fill players in during those situations, games like The Witcher 3 and Bravely Default have already provided a crafty solution to catch returning players up. Developers could easily address this issue, preventing players from ever having to enlist the help of an AI that keeps tabs on their play sessions.

A Microsoft spokesperson assured us that players taking part in this preview for Copilot will be able to decide how and when Copilot tracks them, “whether it has access to their conversation history, and what it does on their behalf.”

“We are exploring different ways where, with players’ consent and with transparency, Copilot for Gaming can help address some of the challenges players face and be alongside them, taking notes on what they’re doing in a game and offering reminders and recaps,” the spokesperson continued.

The second demonstration focused on potential ideas the company hopes Copilot can one day make a reality. The concept showed a player using Copilot for pre and post-match coaching in Overwatch. The use cases here, once again, didn’t connect.

When a player’s preferred character, Echo, was already selected by another player, he asked Copilot who he should pick instead. The AI suggested another Damage-focused hero in Cassidy, with the context of “you’ve done great with him on this map before.” If this player had done well with Cassidy before, why would this player be asking this question in the first place? Do they not remember playing (and doing well) as the character that’s literally right next to Echo on the character select screen?

In another part of the demonstration, Copilot offered a player asking why he was slain so quickly with illuminating insights such as “diving straight into a matchup is a death sentence” and “retreat to regroup with your team.”

Microsoft’s reps were clear that this proof of concept is not something they are actively working on implementing into Overwatch 2. But even if this was real, I don’t know why I’d want to use AI for any of these incredibly obvious answers. For more in-depth breakdowns of my play, why would I ask Copilot when I can just as easily pull up YouTube or a guide for actual insight from a player better than I am? Not to mention that asking Copilot for advice on what character to choose when your favorite hero has been selected is the definition of engaging in a medium in the most braindead way possible.

A lot of proposals for how AI can be implemented into video games seem obsessed with giving players a fake friend they can interface with. And I can’t wrap my head around why tech companies think this is so appealing. If I’m playing a single player game, I don’t think I’d be looking for something as immersion breaking as positive affirmations from an algorithm. And if I’m playing a game online, I don’t think I’d need to interface with a disembodied voice when my teammates are ready and willing to communicate what I might have done wrong or how we can change up our strategy.

What we’ve seen of Copilot for Gaming so far feels like another weird set of solutions for problems that don’t really exist. While games could always stand to be more approachable for newer audiences, I don’t think AI is best suited to solve those issues. I’d be much more interested to see how developers and fellow players craft new ways for the medium to be more inclusive, as many (including Xbox) have already been doing for years.