Halo Studios' new chief of staff also runs her own AI consulting firm

Halo Studios has hired a new chief of staff who also has an AI consulting business--a development that could indicate wider usage of AI (generative or otherwise) at the Halo developer.

The latest report from Rebs Gaming indicates that Halo Studios is indeed gearing up to use AI in the development of new Halo games--if it isn't already. The video notes that Halo Studios has also hired a new chief of staff, Angela Hession, an 11-year veteran at Microsoft who has a robust background in trust and safety (she also was a principal product lead on HoloLens). What's interesting about this hire is that she also runs her own AI consulting firm, Hession Consulting AI, whose landing page reads: "We help technology, gaming, and commerce leaders integrate trust, operational transformation, and future-ready strategy so they can grow fast without triggering tomorrow's crises."

There's also some interesting stats on Hession's previous experiences, with the AI consulting firm's site mentioning Hession's previous experience as a strategy and operations director (or a chief operating officer) at Microsoft, in which she managed a "$500 million business unit" related to Xbox services. The site notes that Hession managed to find cost savings for this Xbox-related business.

• Read more: Halo game development doesn't include generative AI, says Microsoft insider

Given Microsoft's push towards utilizing AI in all facets of its business, including generative AI solutions within games development, and this move has proven to be controversial for the company.

The new Rebs Gaming video also compares various Halo Studios job listings that specifically mention the use of AI, seemingly reinforcing previous reports that the Halo creator is heavily using generative AI while making new games in the franchise.

One new job listing for an engineering manager also gives more clues. Microsoft is hiring such a manager to lead its AI Workflow Innovation team, who will "introduce and responsibly operationalize tools that accelerate art, animation, narrative, and design workflows-helping creators deliver high-quality content while maintaining full creative control."

Microsoft is also hiring an Applied Scientist II aimed at the creation and implementation of AI/ML tools to speed up games development.

The job listing reads:

As an Applied Scientist II in Xbox Games Studios Quality, you will be working with major franchises that include Halo, Forza, Gears of War and Microsoft Casual Suite. You will also be involved in all phases of development and sustainment efforts. This opportunity will allow you to research and deploy deep learning solutions in computer vision and reinforcement learning. You will have the opportunity to bring State of the art solutions to the game development pipeline. This position includes flexible work from home options.

Microsoft has said publicly that it does not force its game development studios to use AI when developing its games. It's implied that studios are free to choose which tools and features they'd like to use when making new games, however it remains unclear whether or not this has changed.

Halo Studios will indeed use AI for its games--the group says that it sees AI as a "tool in a toolbox."