The topic of AI use in videogame development is everywhere, and especially at Microsoft where they have mandated that employees must AI in their daily workflows. But what about Xbox? As part of Microsoft, does it fall under that mandate? Well, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has given us an answer.
Spencer popped up at a panel alongside Double Fine’s Tim Schafer today, and naturally the question of AI usage at Xbox popped up. IGN managed to get the exact quote, as the event is not yet available via video. Thanks, IGN.
“On the creative side, I really leave it up to the teams,” he said. “I have found that creative teams will use tools that make their job easier when it makes their job easier, and any top-down mandate that ‘Thou must use a certain tool’…is not really a path to success. I look at the teams, and we make tools available, and I kind of let it organically percolate.”
The answer is pretty clear: there’s no Xbox mandate that AI needs to be used. How that clashes with Microsoft’s overarching policy is never addressed, though.
Phil did go on to explain that AI is used outside of the create side of things, though, stating that it’s employed heavily for the security and moderation side of the business.
“It’s now at a scale where you can’t really moderate the safety of those with just people alone,” Phil said. “The volume is too high. So we have AI that we use to make sure that the conversation and topics that are happening, and for protected child accounts and other things and who gets to talk to those accounts to those people, is locked down by parents or guardians who are setting those controls.”
“On the production side, which I think is where a lot of people go…we don’t have any goals in our model for that to happen,” Phil said, finishing up his reply to the question. “I think more about the pace of creativity, maybe the number of things we can try and take risks on before we decide on our next opportunity. But our AI use today is much more operational than it is in the creative space.”
Does this alleviate your concerns? How do you feel about the use of AI in various aspects of game development?
