Microsoft's Gaming Copilot: AI Assistant Rolls Out to Windows 11 PCs

Microsoft's Gaming Copilot AI Now Can Help You Beat That Tough Boss on PC

Imad is a senior reporter covering Google and internet culture. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with The New York Times, The Washington Post, ESPN, Tom's Guide and Wired, among others. Microsoft's Gaming Copilot, a beta AI assistant meant to help gamers, is out now on PC and will come to the Xbox mobile app next month, the company said in a blog post on Monday. It's uncertain if or when Gaming Copilot will launch on Xbox consoles. A representative for Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. Gaming Copilot is still in beta and is available to users 18 and older and in all regions except China. Players can ask Copilot questions using the AI assistant's voice mode for recommendations, help and other insights. PC players will now see Gaming Copilot in the Game Bar, an on-screen overlay that players can call up during a gaming session. Gaming Copilot launches next month on the Xbox app for iOS and Android. With voice mode, players can have a back-and-forth conversation with Copilot about their gaming, asking for tips and guidance on quests or boss battles. There's a push-to-talk feature where players can assign a key to automatically bring up Gaming Copilot. It'll also be possible to pin a Gaming Copilot widget on-screen, which Microsoft calls Mini Mode, to interact with the AI assistant. It's uncertain how Gaming Copilot knows what advice to give during gaming sessions. Could developers be giving Microsoft the requisite information on how to beat their games so that the AI model knows what to do? Or is Microsoft pulling from the vast corpus of game guides found online, from sites like IGN, Polygon or posts on Steam Guides? If it's the latter, Microsoft could eat away at major online traffic drivers for gaming sites. With Microsoft investing heavily in AI, throwing $13 billion into ChatGPT maker OpenAI, the company is finding ways to put the technology in everything from Windows to Notepad. AI is also helping Microsoft's Google Search competitor, Bing. Microsoft's continued AI investments, along with its strong cloud support and dominance in enterprise, led Wall Street to shower the brand with support. AI hype, along with other factors, helped propel Microsoft to a $3 trillion valuation last year. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Microsoft Research also showed off a new AI model, Muse, that could generate gameplay visuals, mainly for video game ideation.

Microsoft's Xbox Copilot arrives on Windows 11 PCs worldwide

Microsoft only started testing its new Gaming Copilot in the Windows Game Bar last month, and it's now starting to roll out to all Windows 11 users today. While the initial preview was limited to certain markets, Microsoft says today's release has "regional support everywhere except mainland China." Microsoft is also bringing its Gaming Copilot to the Xbox mobile app next month. "Starting today, PC players will begin seeing Gaming Copilot integrated directly into their Game Bar experience as the feature rolls out gradually over the next few weeks," says Taylor O'Malley, principal program manager at Xbox. "It will then come to the Xbox mobile app on Apple and Android next month, where players will be able to access this personalized companion via a second screen without distracting from their gameplay." The Gaming Copilot will be available as a widget inside the Game Bar on Windows 11, and it includes a voice mode so you can talk to the AI assistant without having to alt + tab out of a game. It will even use screenshots of a game to help answer questions, so you could ask Copilot about a boss in a game without having to describe it. You'll also be able to use the Gaming Copilot to get game recommendations, see a list of your recent Xbox achievements, and more. Microsoft is also planning to optimize this Gaming Copilot for its upcoming Xbox Ally handheld devices, with a promise of also bringing this AI-powered experience to Xbox consoles "in the near future." In the long term, Microsoft wants the Gaming Copilot to turn into an AI gaming coach. The company is positioning this initial effort as a sidekick of sorts, there to accompany you through games and offer up tips. Microsoft has also previously demonstrated using the Gaming Copilot with Overwatch 2, letting it recommend good hero picks to complement the rest of the team.

Suck at Video Games? Now Microsoft's Copilot Can Help

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. If you're reading this, there's a good chance you've used AI to help you at work, at school, or with planning your personal life. Now, Microsoft thinks it should be helping users beat video games. From today, Xbox Gaming Copilot will begin its general rollout to gamers outside mainland China across Windows PCs in beta. However, mobile users on Android and iOS will need to wait until next month for the feature. Microsoft first started testing Gaming Copilot back in May, under the working title Copilot for Gaming. Gaming Copilot will access data from your Xbox account, such as your play history, your achievements, as well as where you are in the game in realtime. Using this data, Gaming Copilot can provide walkthroughs on getting past challenging levels, as well as recommendations on what games you should play next, or how to get certain achievements. Microsoft says the feature will even be able to remind you of the backstory of any in-game characters you encounter. To enable the feature, first, you'll need to make sure you have the Xbox PC app installed on your Windows device. Then you'll need to press the Windows logo key + G to open Game Bar over your game. Look for the Gaming Copilot icon in the Home Bar, then open the widget, and log into your Xbox account to activate the feature. Gamers will be able to interact with the Gaming Copilot using their voices via the "Push to Talk" feature mid-game. To do this, go to the "Hardware and Hotkeys" settings page where you can set your own keybind shortcut to "Push to Talk." In the Xbox mobile app, you'll need to navigate to the Gaming Copilot tab, then push the "Microphone" icon to talk, and ask Copilot a question to begin the conversation. Copilot's entrance into the gaming world becomes increasingly hard to avoid for Windows users. From early October, Microsoft's Copilot app will start installing itself on all Windows devices with 365 desktop apps onboard, including staples like Excel, PowerPoint and Word. Gaming Copilot has already attracted some mixed reactions on social media, with some gamers on Reddit accusing it of being "bloatware" -- preinstalled software that can slow your device down.

Microsoft Gaming Copilot hits Windows in public beta -- in-game AI overlay goes live for PC players

Now available through the Xbox Game Bar, Microsoft's new AI assistant reads your screen, tracks your play history, and offers real-time help Microsoft began rolling out its new Gaming Copilot assistant to Windows users as part of a public beta on September 19, following a previous rollout to Xbox Insiders in August. The feature, located within the Xbox Game Bar overlay, provides players with real-time in-game support using AI-driven context from their screen and Xbox account. Unlike past versions of Copilot integrated into Windows or Microsoft 365, Gaming Copilot is built with screen context and real-time game awareness. It reads from your Xbox account history, sees what you're playing, and can analyze screen content on demand to answer in-game questions. Microsoft says it's designed to help players find achievements, plan builds, and navigate quests without needing to alt-tab to wikis or YouTube. On paper, Gaming Copilot resembles third-party tools like Overwolf, but it operates at the system level within the Game Bar overlay, which provides more reliable full-screen behavior and compatibility with DirectX titles. Microsoft has also confirmed that the assistant can be pinned as a widget and activated with push-to-talk voice controls, two features already present in this early beta. The company has not disclosed whether any of the Copilot inference runs locally or if it's entirely cloud-based. There is also no mention of NPU acceleration, which would matter for players using Snapdragon X laptops or hybrid-core CPUs with on-device AI blocks. This will be a key testing point, particularly as Microsoft has framed the Copilot experience as optimized for new handhelds like the ROG Ally X. Anti-cheat compatibility is another open question. Vendors like Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye generally whitelist Game Bar itself, but Copilot is a more complex overlay, and Microsoft hasn't clarified whether any specific protections are in place. With real-time screenshot analysis and persistent widgets, it's not clear how Copilot will behave in titles with aggressive DRM or competitive match enforcement. With the release of Gaming Copilot, Microsoft appears to be making a concerted effort to make Windows feel more like a native gaming platform. Just days before the Copilot rollout, the company updated the Xbox app to serve as a unified launcher that aggregates titles from Steam, Epic, GOG, and others. Together, these changes transform Windows from a passive host OS to an active participant in the gaming experience. Gaming Copilot is now available for players aged 18 and older, in all regions except mainland China.

Microsoft starts rolling out Gaming Copilot on Windows 11 PCs

Microsoft has begun rolling out the beta version of its AI-powered Gaming Copilot to Windows 11 systems for users aged 18 or older, excluding those in mainland China. Tagged as a "personal gaming sidekick," Gaming Copilot will also be pushed to Xbox mobile app users on Apple and Android devices starting next month. To start using Gaming Copilot in the Game Bar, Windows users must install the Xbox PC app on their PC and use the Windows logo key + G keyboard shortcut to open the Game Bar. Next, they can find the Gaming Copilot icon in the Home Bar, open the widget, and log in to their Xbox account. They can use Gaming Copilot's Voice Mode to get assistance with in-game tasks, ask it to recommend new games to play, check their achievements or their play history, and more. "A major step in Xbox's journey to bring these AI-powered experiences to players is rolling out: Gaming Copilot - which provides recommendations, help, insights and more - is officially coming to Windows PC and Xbox on mobile," Microsoft said. "PC players will begin seeing Gaming Copilot integrated directly into their Game Bar experience, then it'll come to the Xbox mobile app on Apple and Android in October." Those who don't want to use it can also remove Gaming Copilot from the widget list by going into Settings after pressing Win+G. Microsoft first started testing Gaming Copilot in May (when it was still called Copilot for Gaming) with the help of beta testers trying the mobile version on iOS and Android devices. The rollout expanded in early August to Xbox Insiders enrolled in the PC Gaming Preview who had the Xbox PC app installed on their Windows device. In January, Microsoft also introduced the Game Assist in-game browser in preview for Microsoft Edge Stable users. As part of the same effort to expand Copilot's reach to more users, Microsoft started testing new AI features in Windows 11 File Explorer, began rolling out Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote for paying Microsoft 365 business customers, and will automatically install the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows devices outside the EEA region that have the Microsoft 365 desktop client apps. On Wednesday, Redmond also announced that Notepad is getting free AI-powered text writing capabilities on Copilot+ PCs with Windows 11.

Microsoft's Gaming Copilot AI assistant is coming to Windows PCs and the Xbox mobile app

Microsoft's Gaming Copilot AI assistant is officially coming to Windows PCs and the Xbox mobile app. The company has been testing the tool for PCs with Xbox Insiders, but now it's getting a broader rollout. To that end, it'll be available to players aged 18 and older on the PC Game Bar. The Xbox app version rolls out this October, for both Android and iOS, after a beta test took place earlier this year. Microsoft says that its Gaming Copilot will be available throughout the globe, except in mainland China. So what exactly is this thing? It's sort of like an AI version of those old Nintendo help phone lines. The chat box appears as an overlay on the screen and players can use it to ask questions or to get tips about a game. The company says it "knows what you're playing and understands your Xbox activity," as it uses in-game screenshots. It can also answer questions about an Xbox account and offer recommendations on stuff to buy. The official version also offers voice chat, so you can just ask the questions out loud. On PC, there's a "Push to Talk" hotkey that activates the bot, which is handy. The app includes a microphone button. There's a widget for the PC build that can be placed anywhere on the screen. This is useful for longer conversations. Microsoft is still tinkering with this software and urges feedback from users as they "continue to develop Gaming Copilopt and make it even more helpful for players' needs and preferences." The company has been testing the system on Windows-based portable consoles, and it did recently announce the pending availability of its own Xbox Ally handheld gaming machines. It's likely that the software will get an official rollout for those consoles some time after they launch on October 16.

Microsoft's Copilot is coming to inject AI into your Windows PC games

Microsoft demands AI in everything, even AI that watches you play video games. Microsoft will not stop until every last part of your PC experience is full to bursting with "artificial intelligence." Notepad has AI in it now. Need I say more? Well, I guess I need to, since this article is about PC games. To wit, Gaming Copilot is now rolling out to users via Windows 11's Game Bar. Gaming Copilot is still in beta, according to the announcement post, but it's now rolling out integration into the Game Bar system everywhere except mainland China. Previously exclusive to the Xbox Insider Program (which is not the same as Windows Insider), the tool can "see" your gameplay and offer relevant tips and tricks. You can even converse with it in Voice Mode with a dedicated push-to-talk button, or give it something specific with a screenshot. With integration into the Xbox platform, you can ask it about your past achievements or play history. Oddly, the AI-enhanced tool will only be available to "players aged 18 and older." I wonder if some Microsoft lawyers are looking at the issues its AI partner OpenAI is having with adolescents at the moment and deciding that they don't want the headache, especially in the famously contentious world of online multiplayer games. The capabilities will be expanding to the Xbox mobile app in October.

Microsoft's new Gaming Copilot AI tool promises to be 'your personal gaming sidekick' but it mostly seems to do the work of a Google search, with the potential for 'hallucinations'

Is Microsoft's "Gaming Copilot" a helpful assistant or just more bloatware? Microsoft's Copilot AI is officially coming to the Xbox Game Bar on PC starting this week. The new "Gaming Copilot" feature was announced just last month and, as of Thursday it's already beginning its full beta roll-out to PC and coming to the Xbox mobile app in October. As the name suggests, it's a gaming-specific version of Copilot that Microsoft calls "your personal gaming sidekick." You can use Gaming Copilot to ask for tips, suggestions, summaries, info on achievements, and the like. It can analyze what's on your screen for context, such as identifying an NPC you're talking to (although their names are usually on screen anyway). You're able to access this assistant directly through the Xbox Game Bar⁠ -- by default, pressing Windows+G on a keyboard or the Xbox button on one of the company's controllers. There's also a voice mode and a "mini mode" for pinning the AI to your screen. While I can see how some gamers might find this useful, it's hard to see how it's more than an AI version of simply pulling up a guide on your phone or via the Steam browser. It also raises concerns about the potential for cheating in online games. After all, being able to ask an AI for live, personalized advice or explanations during a competitive game toes the line between "coaching" and "cheating." For example, would it be possible for Gaming Copilot to call out enemy locations for you in deathmatch? If Gaming Copilot was found to be an issue in competitive games, would anti-cheat programs be able to detect it, given that the Xbox Game Bar is automatically installed with Windows, and cannot be fully disabled? On the other hand, could it potentially lead to a false-positive with anti-cheat programs flagging players for cheating when they aren't? Whether this AI could really help you⁠ -- as a replacement for searchable guides or to cheat⁠ -- depends on how accurate and detailed its guidance is. "Hallucinations," or false info an AI displays as fact, remain an endemic issue with large language models. For example, just the other day, Google's AI overview responded to my Nightreign team's search about a boss's weakness with incorrect information. Microsoft has said it's working with game developers to ensure Gaming Copilot's tips are correct, but given the track record with LLMs, I'm still skeptical. It's also worth thinking about your hardware and game performance. Even though most of Copilot's functions seem to be handled in the cloud, if you're playing on an older or low-end system, it's possible having an extra process like this running in the background could eat up RAM or CPU resources, leading to poorer game performance. Even on high-end hardware, most gamers aren't looking for more bloatware or unnecessary software to siphon off processing power. There is also the privacy issue of an AI constantly analyzing your screen and collecting gameplay data. If you're concerned about your data privacy (and rightfully so), you're probably not using AI assistants anyway. Regardless, you have to explicitly give Gaming Copilot permission for screen recording in the widget's capture settings, so at least you can always leave that turned off. I attempted to test out Gaming Copilot (and see if there was any way to disable it), but it wasn't available on my Windows 11 systems yet. You can check to see if it's available on your device by opening your Xbox Game Bar and looking for the Gaming Copilot widget in the Home bar.

Microsoft's Xbox Copilot, The New "Gaming Sidekick", Has Arrived on Windows 11 PCs

The Xbox mobile app will also have the gaming copilot, but in October. Xbox Copilot is one of the recent endeavors of Microsoft's plan to attract gamers to a tighter ecosystem. The Xbox Copilot was revealed to become the perfect gaming assistant for players worldwide, giving them perfect advice as well as helping them capture memorable moments. Finally, gamers can test it out on their Windows 11. Starting today, Microsoft has decided to roll out Xbox Copilot for Windows 11 worldwide. Tayler O' Malley has taken to Xbox Wire to announce Xbox Copilot's global release. The gaming copilot will be rolling for players aged 18 and older on PC. The new "gaming sidekick" will be made available through the Xbox Game Bar for PC starting today, and the Xbox app for mobile users in October. The gaming copilot will have an AI voice mode, letting players communicate with it using voice commands. This is to keep gamers from getting distracted during high-stakes duels. Those interested in using Microsoft's Xbox Copilot must make sure to have the Xbox PC app installed on their Windows. After that, press the Windows + G key to open the Xbox Game bar. Find the Gaming Copilot icon and open the widget. Also, make sure to log in to your Xbox account. Furthermore, this feature is only becoming available for Windows 11 users, so those who are still stuck on Windows 10 need to upgrade to Windows 11 if they want to experience it. So, that's it. Looking forward to testing out the new Microsoft Xbox Copilot gaming sidekick? Let us know in the comments below.