Following Microsoft's recent announcement that Xbox head Phil Spencer is retiring and the company's CoreAI Product president Asha Sharma is stepping up to fill the role of Microsoft Gaming CEO, a patent the firm filed that describes helpers — human or AI — stepping in to assist players when they get stuck on difficult in-game challenges has rapidly become the target of public scrutiny.
Some have run with the idea that this represents the start of aggressive AI expansion into the Xbox gaming experience on consoles and PC by Sharma. Something that needs to be understood, however, is that this patent was filed by Microsoft in 2024, long before Sharma entered her new position.
