Microsoft is Working on an AI-Powered Xbox Support Agent

Microsoft is working on a new AI-powered Xbox support agent that may soon help gamers get through the issues they’re facing on their consoles. The software giant confirmed to The Verge that it’s testing this new support agent internally, adding that it also designed an animated character for it to differentiate its agent from basic chatbots.

“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,” says Haiyan Zhang, general manager of gaming AI at Xbox, in a statement to The Verge. “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.”

It’s not exactly clear what form this “animated character” uses, but you may remember that Microsoft previously had a Cortana assistant on Windows and mobile devices that was named after the AI character in Microsoft’s Halo video game series. In the US, that Cortana assistant was voiced by Jen Taylor, the actress who also did the voice of the real Cortana in the Halo video games.

Anyway, this new Xbox support agent will apparently take a different form, and it will be restricted to customer support. AI chatbots have been around for many years now, but this new Xbox agent is reportedly part of a broader effort within Microsoft to apply new generative AI technology to a broad range of workloads, including content moderation and game design itself.

“Microsoft is also considering building AI-powered Copilots for safety and moderation tasks, including content moderation on the Xbox platform and to help with enforcement and appeals processes,” The Verge reported today. “Microsoft is also looking at how it could add AI-powered assistants into games, providing ways for players to get help while they play.”

As Microsoft recently said that the next generation of Xbox consoles will deliver “the largest technical leap we’ve ever seen in a hardware generation,” there’s a good chance that generative AI technology will be part of the equation. We’ve already seen Nvidia’s DLSS and other AI upscaling techniques deliver great results on PC, and Microsoft and Sony are likely planning to catch up on that front with their next-gen consoles. Moreover, generative AI technology could also help developers create immersive worlds with more realistic NPCs. To that end, Microsoft announced in November that it was working on AI game dialogue and narrative tools with Inworld, a startup known for its innovative AI Character Engine.