Microsoft’s Xbox developing generative AI tools for game creators

calico 11/07/2023

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Microsoft-owned Xbox is working on a set of generative artificial intelligence-powered tools for game developers that will enable them to use the new technology to build characters and storylines.

Xbox’s general manager of gaming AI, Haiyan Zhang, announced Monday the company has entered into a multiyear partnership with Inworld AI to build a toolset that will allow developers to utilize AI models aimed at accelerating and enhancing the creation of non-player characters (NPCs) and quests.

Xbox is partnering with Inworld AI to build an “AI design copilot” for gaming developers. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“As game creators have begun experimenting with AI Large Language Models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT (the AI that powers ChatGPT and Bing Chat), we see a world of opportunities to accelerate game developer creativity, reduce complexity, and enhance player experiences,” Zhang wrote in a blog post.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

Zhang said the partnership, which aims to leverage Inworld’s expertise in using generative AI along with Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service and Xbox’s tool development for creators, will deliver an “AI design copilot that assists and empowers game designers to explore more creative ideas, turning prompts into detailed scripts, dialogue trees, quests and more.”

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, speaks during a product event in New York City on Oct. 2, 2019. (Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

WHAT IS CHATGPT?

Microsoft has invested heavily in generative AI in its race against fellow tech titan Google to dominate the field, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the Wall Street Journal in January that eventually “every product of Microsoft will have some of the same AI capabilities to completely transform the product.”