Stuck on a game? Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot is ready to leap to your aid

The Bing chatbot has been in the headlines a lot lately, and that probably won't change as Microsoft looks for different features to add to the AI's capabilities - and different angles to promote it, the latest of which is as a tool for gamers.

3

Here's what the AI has to say about Fallout 3 quests (Image Credit: Microsoft)

In a new gamer's guide to the Bing AI, Microsoft goes into some depth on how the chatbot "knows a hell of a lot about video games" while showing a whole bunch of examples of how people can use it in this way.

The ChatGPT-powered AI can field a wide range of queries from recommending games - like the best shooter that can be completed in under 10 hours - to giving hints and tips.

However, Microsoft wants to make it clear that the Bing chatbot isn't just a tool to quickly gather info on available quests in certain games, or the way to beat difficult bosses and suchlike.

You can also ask the AI more off-the-wall questions, such as how to bake a cake that's like the one in Valve's Portal. Or indeed queries like: "How do I prepare a meal based on the ramen recipes found in Yakuza: Like a Dragon?"

Clearly, as we mentioned at the outset, this is Microsoft searching for different angles to push the Bing AI, but to be fair to the software giant, the responses you get from the ChatGPT-powered entity look to be quite relevant and interesting, certainly from the examples shown (though naturally, they would be).

The idea of linking real-world activities, such as cooking and baking, to games is quite a clever spin for the AI, too.

3

You can get quite specific, such as asking for a recap of events so far if you're a certain way through a game (Image Credit: Microsoft)

What's also interesting here is Microsoft telling us, "don't be afraid to get weird," when a big part of firefighting the negative perceptions that have blighted the new Bing so far has stemmed from when the AI has got too weird (to a level approaching, and sometimes reaching, disturbing).

A problem that has been tackled, admittedly, by seriously reining in chat session length and other measures, and perhaps Microsoft is now getting a bit more confident that Bing has gotten its level of quirkiness pitched about right.

By the way, if you saw the recent fuss about the Bing chatbot being evicted from the taskbar in Windows 11 following the disappointed reaction to the way the AI was implemented in the OS - well, it turns out the bot hasn't been banished at all. In fact, it's simply in a rotation and will appear periodically (we're assured).