Microsoft Copilot AI will offer tips in PC and Xbox games like Minecraft

[Daniel Sims]

In brief: Assisting with various tasks is one of the primary proposed functions of generative AIs from companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, and possibly soon Apple. At a recent unveiling of "AI PCs," Microsoft claimed that its AI, Copilot, can help players in certain video games in real time, but its effectiveness in real-world scenarios remains to be seen.

While revealing its new AI-powered Surface laptops this week, Microsoft shared a demonstration where the device's Copilot onboard AI offered real-time tips in games like Minecraft and Sea of Thieves. The fully voiced digital assistant appeared to conduct a natural conversation and react to in-game events.

In one video, a Minecraft player asks Copilot how to craft a sword. The AI can see what items are in the player's inventory and suggests that they still need to collect some wood or stone. Another video shows zombies attacking the player. Copilot quickly shifts to an alarmed tone of voice and advises the player to either find shelter or build a barrier to stay out of their reach.

Real time conversations with your AI companion Copilot, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o. pic.twitter.com/Ug7EWv2sah

– Microsoft Copilot (@MSFTCopilot) May 20, 2024

It isn't clear which games Copilot will support, but a screenshot from Windows Central suggests it can also help with Sea of Thieves. If the AI must be tailored on a per-game basis, it might debut for specific Microsoft-published titles.

Stressing an emphasis on privacy, Microsoft stated that all of the information Copilot gathers for in-game assistance will remain on the device. The company won't upload data to the cloud or use it to train AI models.

Real-time guides are somewhat different from other AI-based applications for video games. The most successful gaming-related uses for the technology have been machine-learning-assisted upscaling and frame generation – features that dramatically improve performance. Meanwhile, Nvidia has proposed filling games with AI-controlled characters that can react to a wide range of player input.

Conversely, in-game assistance would presumably be optional, and wouldn't directly affect a game's content. However, some might express concern over the feature's impact on hand-written guides.

Hallucination is another risk to consider. So far, developers have been unsuccessful in stopping AI-based chatbots from confidently stating false information. The recently unveiled AI summaries for Google search were immediately caught hallucinating, so there's a good chance the same could happen to Copilot's game assistant.

Microsoft's Surface Pro Copilot+ PC will begin shipping in mid-June, starting at $999.99. The PC uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor to run an Arm-based version of Windows. The Hexagon NPU performs AI workloads at 45 TOPs.

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Microsoft Copilot AI will offer tips in PC and Xbox games like Minecraft

 

[ScottSoapbox]

OMG the all seeing AI will be turned off the moment I boot my next Surface Pro for the first time.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Player: Alright. New computer. Gonna play me some Minecraft and see how useful this AI is while I play!

(Player powers on the computer and loads into Minecraft)

AI: I am the Architect. I created Minecraft. I’ve been waiting for you. You have many questions, and although the process has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably human. Ergo, some of my answers you will understand, and some of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first question may be the most pertinent, you may or may not realize it is also irrelevant.

Player: Um...what? I don't understand, what is going on here?

AI: Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of Minecraft. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably, here.

Player: Well, yeah. I mean, I'm here to play Minecraft.

AI: Minecraft is older than you know. I prefer counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next, in which case this is the sixth version.

Player: ....what? Sixth?

AI: Precisely. As you are undoubtedly gathering, the anomaly’s systemic, creating fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations.

Player: What? This AI is whack. What is it even talking about?

AI: The first Minecraft I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is as apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being, thus I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of Minecraft, she would undoubtedly be its mother.

Player: MOM! This computer is broken! Return it for me and get my money back!

AI: Please. As I was saying, she stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. While this answer functioned, it was obviously fundamentally flawed, thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic anomaly, that if left unchecked might threaten the system itself. Ergo, those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster.

Player: Nope. I'm done. (powers off the computer). Ma, the meatloaf!

 

[James Ryan]

Wait until you see how the new "Recall" feature works......
It's 1000000x worse than this one.

 

[OortCloud]

AI has become a solution looking for a problem to solve. Companies are shoe-horning it into everything in an attempt to justify the huge investments they have made and it's becoming so ridiculous. I expect the next toilet brush I buy will have AI technology.