What you need to know
- Microsoft is teaming up with Inworld AI to bring new AI tools to Xbox to make game development easier.
- The tools include an AI design copilot and an AI character runtime engine.
- They can be used to create AI-powered characters, stories, and quests.
- It's up to the developers to decide how to use the technology, as it remains optional.
In the past few years, we've seen Microsoft's focus shift to generative AI, especially after making a multi-billion dollar investment in the technology, which ultimately extended its partnership with OpenAI.
We've seen Microsoft inject the technology across its ecosystem, including Microsoft Edge and Windows 11, with "Copilots" designed to serve as AI-powered assistants. It was only a matter of time till the ripple effect was felt in the gaming department, which brings us to today's announcement highlighting the newfound partnership between Microsoft and Inworld AI.
The multi-year co-development partnership will help bring new tools to Xbox, including an AI design copilot and an AI character runtime engine that will assist developers in creating AI-powered characters, stories, and quests.
According to the statement released announcing the new partnership, the design copilot will sport similar capabilities, we've seen before on Windows Copilot or even Bing Chat. The system can take prompts and turn them into "detailed scripts, dialogue trees, quests, and more."
As for the AI character runtime engine, it's designed to enable "entirely new narratives with dynamically generated stories, quests, and dialogue."
This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.
Inworld AI
Is bringing AI tools to Xbox the right call?
The incorporation of AI into Xbox was imminent, however, its future remains uncertain. With reports of the technology losing accuracy over time, getting dumber, the user base declining, and the just-released Executive Order by President Biden designed to assert the privacy and safety of the tool, there's no telling how this will go.
Still, it's a step in the right direction, especially when used sparingly to retain authenticity and the raw form of titles. However, these tools will remain optional for game developers, so it's essentially their call to determine the gravity of the tools' usage.
Xbox's general manager of gaming AI, Haiyan Zhang, stated:
At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games. This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.
It'll be interesting to see the effect AI has on gaming in the long run and how it'll impact the gameplay.
Do you think game developers will adopt these new AI tools? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
