Microsoft reportedly testing AI commands in a version of Minecraft

Microsoft may be working on its chatbot AI technology with the new Bing search engine, but it's also reportedly developing another AI model designed to help gamers. Semafor reports, via unnamed sources, that the model allowed gamers to use natural language to control characters and tasks in Minecraft.

This feature was reportedly demonstrated at a recent internal meeting at Microsoft. It stated that putting in AI features in Minecraft is more difficult than it first sounds. Some tasks in the sandbox game can be done in more than one way, and it's even possible the AI model could come up with new ways to accomplish tasks in the game. A video showing a previous Minecraft AI demo was later posted on Twitter by "WalkingCat"

The article states that there are no current plans to add this method of AI control in a public version of Minecraft. However, it does point out that this game has been used in the past by AI researchers because it is so open ended. Indeed, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and partners with Microsoft on developing the Bing chatbot, published an article in June 2022 on its own AI research into Minecraft. Using tens of thousands of hours of Minecraft gameplay videos as a basis, OpenAI was able to use its AI tech to accomplish complicated tasks in the game.