Xbox Takes Measured Approach to AI: Spencer Emphasizes Developer Choice Over Corporate Mandates

Halo developers see AI as a 'tool in a toolbox'

TL;DR: Halo Studios developers emphasize that generative AI serves as a supportive tool in game development, enhancing workflows without replacing human creativity. Microsoft allows individual discretion in AI use, integrating it strategically across gaming software and hardware, while maintaining that people remain the primary creators behind new Halo titles. Halo Studios developers have a practical take on artificial intelligence, saying that it's a "tool in a toolbox" but ultimately the humans are the creators. Days ago, a report from Rebs Gaming stated that generative AI was being heavily used in the development of new Halo games, including the new Halo CE remake. Windows Central's Jez Corden stepped in to clarify this isn't the case, and now Halo Studios developers are once again speaking on the controversial technology. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, two Halo Studios devs spoke about how AI can help games production, indicating that it may be being used for new Halo games, but not in the capacity of letting generative AI call the shots. "I want to be very clear...People are creative. People make games. AI can improve workflows. It can do things for the game. But I want to be very specific and clear that the people are the ones who are creating the game, and there's an opportunity to improve a workflow, or something along those lines, we'll look at it again. It really should be additive to the creation of a game," Halo Campaign Evolved executive producer Damon Conn said. When asked directly if generative AI was being used, game director Greg Hermann said: "It's a tool in a toolbox. I may go a little off message here, but some of that gets very challenging when we look at how integrated AI is becoming within our tooling. We use Photoshop. There's generative fill, for example. The boundary lines can get a little fuzzy. I will say, though, again, to Damon's point, it really is about that creative spark that comes from people and improving just overall workflows." Microsoft, which has spent tens of billions of dollars ingratiating AI into the very bedrock of its business--including in its video games unit where it has developed a potent generative AI called MUSE that renders gameplay in real-time without developer inputs--does not force its creative teams to adopt AI. In February, Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer said that game developers under the Microsoft banner have individual discretion on which tools they use, including artificial intelligence. AI will play an important part in Microsoft's gaming future, from software and content production to hardware-based feature sets and user experience on the next-generation Xbox PC.

Phil Spencer Says There's No 'Top-Down Mandate' To Use AI At Xbox

The AI arms race is currently eating up hundreds of billions of dollars in investment as companies compete over a technology whose exact benefits are still far from clear. Microsoft is at the center of that fight. How is the head of Microsoft gaming thinking about fitting AI into development? "Our AI use today is much more operational than it is in the creative space," Phil Spencer said during a recent panel discussion. As reported by IGN, he was speaking at the Paley International Council Summit in Palo Alto, California on the topic of "Big Ideas, Small Games: Creativity Beyond the Blockbuster" with Double Fine studio head Tim Schafer following the release of Keeper. Microsoft has been pushing AI into all of its products and CEO Satya Nadella has bragged about relying on multiple AI assistants throughout the day to run one of the biggest tech firms in the world. But it's less clear how those tools are being used by rank-and-file employees within the company, especially on the gaming side. According to Spencer, Microsoft gaming's biggest deployment of AI technology right now is in its platform moderation tools. The company announced last year that it's been using AI tools to help flag and intercept offensive or spam-related communications on Xbox. "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," he said during yesterday's panel. "That's our primary use of AI inside of our organization today, which maybe isn't the most glamorous use of AI, but it's something that I fundamentally believe in." When it comes to other applications on the player-facing front, Spencer suggested AI could also help with one of the biggest challenges in gaming right now: game discovery and curation. "It's not in practice today, but is there a way for us to use discovery based on things that you've done in the past to surface the next thing that you might not know about that might be interesting to you?" he speculated. When it comes to game development, however, Spencer seemed to downplay any significant use of AI tools when it comes to things like creating concept art, programming code, or scripting dialogue. "On the creative side, I really leave it up to the teams," the executive 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." He continued, 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. 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. That's a far cry from the promises that some gaming company executives are making about how AI can help them drastically cut costs and ship games more quickly and efficiently. Last year, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said AI was at "the very core" of the Madden and Battlefield publisher's business. That company is now reportedly banking on an AI revolution to help it service a new $20 billion loan as part of a private equity buyout led by Saudi Arabia.

Xbox's Phil Spencer leaves it up to developers to decide if they want to use AI, and any top-down mandate "is not really a path to success"

Microsoft Gaming executive VP Phil Spencer, formerly the head of Xbox, has a softer stance on AI than you would think considering the wider company's big push on the tech, as he recently said studios under his gaming division can use AI if they want to, and if not, that's cool too. No pressure. Per IGN, during a Paley International Council Summit talk with Double Fine's Tim Schafer, Spencer explained that the gaming division's "applications of AI today are mostly actually on the security and protection of our networks," like spotting bad apples on voice and text chat. "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," he says. "That's our primary use of AI inside of our organization today, which maybe isn't the most glamorous use of AI, but it's something that I fundamentally believe in." When it comes to game development, AI use is a totally different story within Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard, according to Spencer: "On the creative side, I really leave it up to the teams." Spencer's experience is that devs "will use tools that make their job easier when it makes their job easier," and top-down corporate mandates aren't "a path to success." So, he's pretty hands off in that sense. "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... but our AI use today is much more operational than it is in the creative space." After big publishers like Krafton have fully embraced AI, all I can say is phew.

Phil Spencer says what AI is being used for at Xbox amid Halo accusations

TL;DR: Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed Xbox primarily uses AI for operational tasks like moderating Xbox Live chat, not for creative game development. There is no mandate for studios to use AI in production, though AI tools may enhance game discovery in the future. Creative teams choose tools that ease their workflow. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has responded to a question about AI being used in the development of titles under the Xbox banner. Spencer was on a panel with Double Fine Studio Head Tim Schafer at the Paley International Council Summit in Palo Alto, where he was asked about the involvement of AI at Xbox. Spencer confirmed that the new technology is in use at the publisher, but not in the way that you may think. According to Spencer, Xbox "mostly" uses AI for security purposes, specifically for moderating voice and text chat on Xbox Live, as the service has grown too large for humans to feasibly moderate. The Xbox CEO did touch on the use of AI in game development, saying there isn't a "top-down mandate" that development studios operating under the Xbox banner must use AI throughout the creation of their game. Recent reports claimed the new Halo game is being developed with AI, which has also been refuted by insiders. Spencer said that he has found creative teams will use any tools that make their job easier, and that any enforcement of tools "is not a path to success". Keeping to the topic of AI, but moving away from it being used creatively, Spencer said the tool could be used for discovery, specifically when a gamer wants to find a new game to play. "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." "An area that you've talked about that's interesting is discovery. How do I find the next thing that I might love? In that scenario where we are looking at some of the AI tools - it's not in practice today - but is there a way for us to use discovery based on things that you've done in the past to surface the next thing that you might not know about that might be interesting to you?"

Xbox Boss Phil Spencer on AI Use: 'Much More Operational Than it Is in the Creative Space' - IGN

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer appeared on a moderated panel with Double Fine Studio Head Tim Schafer at the Paley International Council Summit in Palo Alto, California today, discussing "Big Ideas, Small Games: Creativity Beyond the Blockbuster." In the panel, moderated by Idilio CEO Gabriela Tafur, Spencer was asked about AI use at Xbox. He said that Xbox does use AI, but probably not how you might think. "Our applications of AI today are mostly actually on the security and protection of our networks," he said, referring to voice and text chat on Xbox Live. "It's now at a scale where you can't really moderate the safety of those with just people alone. 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. That's our primary use of AI inside of our organization today, which maybe isn't the most glamorous use of AI, but it's something that I fundamentally believe in." He did, however, address the big question of AI use in the creative process of making games: "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." He stayed on the AI topic, but pivoted to the idea of how it might be used for game discovery. "An area that you've talked about that's interesting is discovery," he told Tafur. "How do I find the next thing that I might love? In that scenario where we are looking at some of the AI tools - it's not in practice today - but is there a way for us to use discovery based on things that you've done in the past to surface the next thing that you might not know about that might be interesting to you? "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. 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." Be sure to tune in to our weekly Xbox show, Unlocked, for long-form discussion on everything happening in the world of Xbox.