Gaming at Xbox, or as many have enjoyed saying these past couple of years, Microsoft, is changing yet again as the announcement of Phil Spencer’s retirement reaches the masses. The change that comes is yet to be set in stone, but if one with even legally blind eyes were to follow the trail, they’d most likely come to one conclusion: AI is coming
If you were to ask me, or anyone who followed Xbox, who the most logical replacement for Phil Spencer was, almost everyone would say Sarah Bond. A few voices might run off Matt Booty, but surely nobody would have said Asha Sharma.
Microsoft is no longer run by gamers — What does that mean?
At the core of it (like that pun?), Microsoft is no longer led by gamers. As I said previously, I would have pegged Sarah Bond for the job once Phil Spencer. On LinkedIn, only an hour agao Sarah wrote the following statement:
“We’re living through a transformative technological era that will shape the next generation of our industry, and I’m energized by what’s ahead. This moment also presents a unique opportunity for fresh eyes and new leadership to guide the team into its next chapter. I’ve had the privilege of spending time with Asha over the last few weeks as we’ve planned for this transition, and I’ve seen firsthand her deep commitment to our players, developers, and brand. She brings deep technology and commerce experience, along with a strong track record of building and scaling platforms that the world uses. Xbox deserves this.”
Xbox deserves this.
Sarah Bond
I could spend an article on this statement alone. While Sarah Bond calls out her deep commitment to the players, the worrying part for everyone, myself included, is how she views that commitment as someone who hasn’t had any experience in the field she’s now leading.
“Xbox deserves this,” is such a line to end on, one that is either unknowingly or intentionally filled with double-meaning. I for one, think Sarah is far too good to not have seen how that could be taken.
However, from the inside, I’ve heard good things that many Xbox insiders are optimistic about the transition to Asha Sharma. Indeed, she came out almost immediately to tackle the burning question of AI integration in Xbox products in her LinkedIn post:
“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.”
I live by the motto that comments are as good or as bad as you let them be. If you take her statement on the subject with a glass-half-full look, what she says should resonate well with everyone. It’s that tingling sensation that pulls at the back of your neck, like a worry about something you can’t quite see, that causes you to question it entirely.
Looking over the LinkedIn profile of Asha, it feels so incredibly weird to see the CEO of Xbox casually mention she’s also a Board Member of The Home Depot. Nothing about that screams passion in the gaming sphere to me, but I hope with everything I’m wrong.
AI and the future of Xbox
The idea that we won’t be flooded with soulless AI slop is a sigh of relief, but it’s what the statement fails to mention that people should be thinking about. The CEO of Xbox does not say that AI will not be used at all; she only says we won’t see the slop.
I don’t think anyone expects Microsoft to develop games that will resemble anything of the sort. What gamers worry about is the replacement of human ingenuity and creativity by machines. It’s true that human intervention over AI can help steer it in directions that look and feel far more human-like, but that doesn’t mean they’re inherently human-created.
We all see the writing on the wall. Microsoft committed a rumored $100 billion to AI some time ago, not to mention their push for everything Copilot. They very recently announced their push to create their own AI models, rather than leaning on the creations they’ve been bolstering their portfolio with.
We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop.
Asha Sharma
Now, Xbox is being run by the former head of CoreAI at Microsoft, someone whose LinkedIn page is focused on the profitability they brought to companies like Instacart. AI is the tool by which companies will save billions, if not trillions, over the coming years. I can not blame them for this, as businesses literally exist to make money.
I initially had an issue with the fact that the new head of Xbox didn’t directly address whether AI would be used, but we’re well past that point. AI is here, and whether or not it’s a bubble in this industry is yet to be seen, but it’s not going anywhere.
All we can hope for is the ethical use of it. As I’ve said with ARC Raiders, the use of AI doesn’t have to be awful; after all, humans’ creation of new time-freeing technology has generally led to the betterment of mankind. However, we can all see that its current use has been anything but.
A statement to Microsoft
Microsoft, you, and the others at the forefront of this technology have the responsibility to guide the use of AI. The conversations you should be having with consumers are not about how great your new tool is, but what it does to better the human condition.
As humans have evolved over millennia, innovations such as farming led to gifting people time to think. With that thought, we were able to produce better clothing, tools, art, and more. Every step along our timeline has led to another achievement or ability once locked away from mankind. The worry is that AI is one of the rare instances in which it may reduce us.
AI, in its current form, as Brendan Lowry put it in a chat with me, is self-defeating. All it can currently do is consume what it’s given to create something from that data. As a result, what it generates is not truly unique. An AI cannot think for itself to generate something new; all it can do is learn from the past and present.
True human creativity comes in the form of accidents and mutations of new thought. We are not bound to the confines of dimensional arrays and formulas. Our mental capacity is still beyond our own comprehension; the replacement for human-creation is currently impossible to manufacture.
All we ask is that the use of this AI be overseen and used as a guide to elevate human-creativity to realms even further than what we currently do not understand. Do not chase even long-term profitability by replacing the unreplaceable, the unfathomable.
I ask, I please, I beg for the correct use of technology, not just in video games, but in all aspects to be used in accordance with human evolution. We do not want slop in our games, nor do we want the soul of creation to be.
Asha Sharma, you have the opportunity to help lead the next-generation of Xbox games and gamers into realms we have yet to realize. We know AI is here to stay, bubble or not. We ask that you direct it in ways people can actually believe in.
I welcome you to an exciting, terrifying time in the gaming industry. Prove to us that your words today truly mean what you say, don’t leave us wallowing in AI mud generated by your latest human-like creative.
What do you think of Asha Sharma taking on the position of Xbox CEO?
Do you believe Asha Sharma is the person to lead the future of Xbox, or do you disagree? Are you worried about the inclusion of AI into the gaming sphere, or do you realize it’s inevitability?
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