Copilot for Gaming is out: AI sits on your phone as the 'ultimate' resource for Xbox gaming

Copilot for Gaming has arrived in beta form in the Xbox app for mobiles, with the AI designed to provide you with hints and tips, strategies, info on games, and more besides.

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Sea of Thieves: Probably the biggest letdown we've ever experienced with contemporary PC gaming, we're sad to say. Stick that in your opinion-scraping pipe and smoke it, Copilot (Image Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft announced (as flagged by Neowin) the debut of the AI feature in the US and Australia (as well as some other regions) as part of the latest beta version of the Xbox app on Android and iPhone.

• Read more: Microsoft's Gaming Copilot watches you game and captures that data for 'model training'
• Read more: Gaming Copilot is now rolling out to Xbox Insiders on PC, coming soon to ROG Xbox Ally
• Read more: Copilot for Gaming is a new 'AI-driven sidekick' and companion for Xbox gamers

The idea is that Copilot for Gaming is a second screen experience, so you can use it on your phone without cluttering the display of the TV (or monitor) hooked up to your console (or PC).

You can ask the AI all manner of queries, and that includes advice for the game that you're currently playing, should you get stuck. Copilot for Gaming knows exactly what game is being run on your Xbox as it taps the console for this info, and also your Xbox activity.

The latter allows the AI to make broad game recommendations based on the library of games you've delved into in the past. You can also ask for specific recommendations, so if you're into, say, cars, and fancy a realistic racing sim, you can ask Copilot to suggest a good example of just that.

Coach class

At the moment, Copilot for Gaming doesn't go much beyond this, mixing in basic AI tricks with Bing search for locating material on the web as you might imagine. However, Microsoft plans to expand the abilities of the AI considerably in the future, and that includes proactive coaching for games, which is where Copilot could prove particularly useful. And AI in general for that matter, in terms of analyzing your gaming skills and comparing it to the pros, hopefully highlighting areas that you need to work on to improve your performance.

The controversial side of this package in the future may be around the line between AI coaching and AI cheating, but we'll cross that artificial bridge when we come to it, no doubt. Already there's functionality built into a niche set of gaming monitors which treads over that line in our opinion, and so we fully expect more developments in that general direction.

Should you want to try Copilot for Gaming you'll need to download the freshly released beta version of the Xbox app for your preferred mobile, Android or iOS. As noted, those concerned about privacy should bear in mind the way that the AI hooks into the user's Xbox activity, which is unlikely to be comforting for them.

In the nearer-term, we should get Copilot for Gaming on the PC, as well, as part of the Game Bar - Microsoft tells us that this is coming soon.