Next gen Xbox will have special hardware just for AI reveals Microsoft

Microsoft has discussed the hardware necessary to power its AI plans for the next gen Xbox, and how it’ll begin experimenting with the Xbox Ally X.

Although Microsoft revealed sometime ago, that they’re working on a next Xbox console – one that will feature the ‘largest technical leap’ ever – they’ve never provided any details of what it will be or when it will be properly announced, even as rumours suggest it could be out as early as 2027.

The most they’ve done is confirm a partnership with chip maker AMD, for both a home and portable console, but considering how poorly the Xbox Series X/S has sold it’s very unclear exactly how these new devices will be pitched, especially as recent rumours suggest they’ll be extremely expensive.

It’s true that they can offer an alternative via their cloud gaming service but, while hinting that cloud gaming may get a new ad-based tier, they’ve also talked about how much the new home console will prioritise Ai, including having hardware dedicated to it.

Given Microsoft’s obsession with the technology (which isn’t AI at all, in the science fiction sense of the word, but merely machine-learning), it’s long been assumed that their claim about the largest technical leap is related to AI, but in exactly what way has never been clear.

AI has been used by video game companies in a number of non-controversial ways for many years, especially in terms of increasing resolution at no extra processing cost and, more recently, improving frame rates and features like ray-tracing.

However, given Microsoft’s disturbing attempts at trying to use AI to make games, no one believes they’re just going to leave it at that.

The best clue so far is that Microsoft is planning ‘dedicated silicon’ to enable AI features in the next gen Xbox, although again the details are purposefully vague.

“Together with AMD, we’re designing dedicated silicon and hardware to enable the next generation of gaming experiences,” says Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s vice president of next generation, via The Verge.

‘We’re investing deeply in the next generation of rendering technologies, such as neural rendering, which will bring a new level of quality to the games that you’re having,’

Neural rendering is an ambiguous term but, in this context, likely refers to AI image generation, although potentially in tandem with traditional rendering tools.

That does sound like the sort of thing Microsoft would go for and according to Ronald, ‘We’re also investing in dedicated silicon to enable the next generation of AI capabilities, that will be transformative in how you actually experience your gameplay.’

Ronald says that Microsoft will start experimenting with new AI features with the upcoming Xbox Ally X handheld devices, which have a dedicated NPU (neural processing unit) chip.

Although this is not a surprising direction for Xbox it’s unclear to what degree Sony will be using AI technology in the PlayStation 6, which is also expected to be released in 2027 or 2028.

Publicly, there’s only been references to benign uses, such as increasing resolutions, but a leaked AI demo of a generative AI version of Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn, suggests they might have similar plans to Microsoft.

It’s very likely both companies will start to talk about their next gen plans in detail from next year, but it already seems certain that the next generation will be something more than just the traditional upgrade in graphical power.

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