‘We need to draw lines on what we won’t do’: Xbox isn’t enforcing the use of AI, new gaming CEO says
Despite previously heading Microsoft’s CoreAI, Asha Sharma says care must be taken with the tech
Xbox has no plans to enforce the use of AI in its games, its new management team says.
In an interview with Windows Central, new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty said there are no demands from management to use AI in game development, but that it will still be used as a productivity tool.
Sharma explained that while the company will indeed use AI during development, it’s more important that it’s used properly and not for poor quality output.
“I think that with any new technology, it brings possibilities as a tool, but even more important, especially now — we need to draw lines on what we won’t do,” Sharma said.
“That’s what I attempted to do when I shared my opening letter. I will not flood our ecosystem with slop. We won’t have careless output, we won’t have derivative work. I deeply believe in the words that I shared previously there.”
Booty added that AI is being used as a tool for productivity at Microsoft, but not necessary to replace the creation of art assets.
“Just as a group, game developers are always eager to adopt new technology,” he said. “When Photoshop showed up, it took about one month for it to appear in every game studio on the planet because it was so useful.
“What I hear throughout our studios, it is the people, our artists, our coders, the writers — they’re doing the creative work. In my experience, any time there’s a new technology, what happens is there’s a need for more specialists, new specialists. It raises the bar on what the expectations are for the quality of the games.
“We’ve got no pressure from Microsoft, there are no directives on AI coming down. Our teams are free to use any technologies that might be beneficial, whether it’s helping write code or check for bugs — things more in the production pipeline. At the end of the day as Asha said, we’re committed to art made by people. Technology is only in support of that.”
Last week, in her first statement as Microsoft Gaming CEO, Sharma vowed: “As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.”
Sharma started in her new role as Microsoft Gaming CEO on Monday, following the surprise announcement that Phil Spencer was retiring. Booty was also promoted to chief content officer, while Xbox president Sarah Bond resigned.
