Microsoft files patent for an AI that plays your Xbox games for you

According to a recently published patent, Microsoft is exploring the idea of an AI helper that can step in and finish your Xbox games when you get stuck.

If you ever get stuck on a difficult boss fight, Microsoft wants to help you beat it - by passing it off to AI, while you just sit there and watch. A newly discovered patent reveals that Microsoft is flirting with the idea of a cloud-based system that will allow players to literally give the controller to an AI and let it finish the game for them.

The patent, officially titled "State Management for Video Game Help Sessions," shows a feature where players can request a “helper” to temporarily take complete control of their Xbox session. The document does mention that this helper could be another person, but Microsoft also mentions using an AI model to do the heavy lifting. So, we’re not talking about mechanics similar to summoning other players in Dark Souls games or asking for help in multiplayer. This means that AI will completely step in and finish a difficult session for you.

Microsoft Xbox AI patent — Image: Microsoft

The news of this patent arrived at an interesting time for Xbox, as Microsoft’s gaming department now has a new boss, Asha Sharma, after the departure of Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond. Sharma recently made headlines by promising she would not flood the Xbox ecosystem with "soulless AI slop," claiming she has “no tolerance for bad AI.”

To be fair, this patent was originally filed in 2024, long before Sharma took over as the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming last month. So we have yet to see what happens to it, with Sharma’s strict stance on using AI in gaming. If this feature makes its way to the players, we should probably consider it to be “good AI.”

Microsoft isn’t alone in developing AI that will play games instead of players. Sony also recently patented a “Ghost Player” assistant, which should, among other types of assistance, also be able to take over a game from a human player.

Of course, as is always the case with these corporate filings, this is still just a patent. Tech giants file thousands of these every year to protect conceptual ideas, and many of them never see the light of day. But if we look at the recent industry trends, where companies are promoting offloading everything to AI and just observing what it does, there’s a high chance a feature like this will come to life in the near future.

If these helpers actually become a reality, I’ll just ask: wouldn’t letting an AI finish the game for you take all the fun out of it?

Source: PatentScope (via Tech4Gamers)