Microsoft is reportedly testing an AI chatbot to augment its customer support service for its Xbox.
Media reports indicate that an Xbox Support Virtual Agent will be an animated character capable of providing support for Xbox users with voice or text commands.
The animated character will glean information from Xbox Support pages to support Xbox customers.
Furthermore, it could also process refunds for games. All its support will be offered in “natural language.”
The Xbox chatbot is believed to already be in the testing phase, with plans being made for it to be rolled out for all Xbox customers subsequently.
Earlier this year, Xbox president Sarah Bond hinted that Microsoft will deliver “the largest technical leap” with the next-generation of Xbox hardware, though no further details or timelines were provided.
Microsoft has previously integrated AI into its Xbox ecosystem. Recently, in November last year, Xbox and Inworld AI partnered to enable game creators to harness the potential of generative AI. The toolset includes 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. Also, an AI character runtime engine can be integrated into the game client, enabling new narratives with dynamically-generated stories, quests, and dialogue for players to experience.
In a blog post, Haiyan Zhang, general manager of Gaming AI, Xbox, said that the aim was to build “AI game dialogue and narrative tools at scale.”
She added, “As game creators have begun experimenting with AI Large Language Models 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.”
