Microsoft's Copilot is in almost everything the company develops, including its Edge web browser's sidebar, which I most frequently use. While it's primarily a run-of-the-mill AI assistant for most text queries, it also has a voice, and you can chat to Copilot with any device with a built-in or external microphone, just like with its mobile app. While it was a bit slower off the starting line than OpenAI's conversational and subscription-only ChatGPT Plus, Microsoft Copilot is (mostly) free to use on your desktop and sounds convincing enough.
I might be in the minority as someone who enjoys using Copilot, but it's better than you think. Besides, the Copilot Android widget sits on my phone's home screen, so I'm regularly talking to it.
I've found myself using it so much that when I jump into the recently improved, post-patch Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 for some time in the sky, I notice how flat and robotic the text-to-speech (TTS) dialog sounds when you're chatting with AI-controlled characters. Don't get me wrong, it's better than nothing at all, but Microsoft has access to this ultra-casual voice model, and it's not using it in a flagship simulator game that streams most of its data from the cloud since 2020.
The voice model that developers at Asobo Studio have used in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 sounds more like an accessibility solution than an attempt at virtual interaction. Most of the time, it sounds like I'm listening to a screen reader than my flight instructor. Again, I'm not expecting the same audio production as some AAA blockbusters, but the technology is on the table; Microsoft only needs to leverage it.
Captain Ben, I'm all buckled up and ready for take-off. Where's our next adventure taking us?
Microsoft Copilot
I'm so convinced the experience would be even more immersive than offering a fully realized 3D representation of our globe at a fraction of the install size that I tasked Microsoft's Copilot assistant with a playful role in my imaginary Flight Simulator 2024 update: "Just for fun, let's pretend that we're flying in my plane and you're my virtual copilot." Of course, this is all make-believe, but the instant transmission of an ultra-high-quality TTS line could work the same way in MSFS 2024, and now I have a wishlist for future updates.
In the scope of complaints against Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 compared to its broken launch state, this ultra-minor gripe falls into personal taste. Still, the game is improving with each patch and maintains an optimistic upward trend, and I'm confident that it'll return to its former glory in time, earning a score when I return to my MSFS 2024 review-in-progress.
Nevertheless, it's strange to see Microsoft sitting on high-quality speech tech and not offering it up to its partnered game developers when its Copilot Agents are launching elsewhere.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the future, though it's a big request to overhaul the speech tech of any game, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has the entire virtual Earth to contend with before its developers at Asobo Studio can think of adding new content. Still, I'd love to see Microsoft make it happen. They're not running those gigantic Azure server farms for nothing, right?
For now, check out MSFS 2024 on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for access to the Xbox and PC versions.
