Xbox will not mandate AI usage or use it to replace human-made art, according to the company’s new executive leadership. Fans were expecting big things from the brand in 2026, as the year marks its 25th anniversary, but the biggest news so far took the gaming world by surprise. There are new leaders over at Xbox, and they want to reassure gamers about what’s in store down the line.
Microsoft made quite a stir when former CEO Phil Spencer announced he was retiring from Xbox after having been with the company since before the first Xbox was released. Xbox President Sarah Bond also announced she was stepping down, spurring further speculation about what’s going on behind the scenes and what’s next for the company. While many of these lingering questions may not get firm answers until fans see them play out in the future, the new leadership team has responded to some of the most pressing concerns.
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New Xbox Execs Say “There Are No Directives on AI” at the Company
In an interview with Windows Central, freshly appointed CEO Asha Sharma and CCO Matt Booty stressed that AI is just a tool for Xbox developers and will not replace artists. Sharma’s official statement upon taking over as Xbox CEO already touched on this, saying the company will not over-emphasize the technology’s short-term efficiency gains at the expense of quality content. Now, she has doubled down on that viewpoint, reassuring fans that “we won’t have careless output” while comparing AI to previous innovations in game development like motion capture. Booty echoed this sentiment and added that Xbox is “committed to art made by people” and that Microsoft is not pushing them to mandate or increase AI usage in any form.
The note about there being no pressure to ramp up AI use is likely a reference to other gaming companies implementing such mandates recently. In late 2025, it came out that EA was reportedly pushing employees to use AI to the frustration of developers. While some industry insiders have praised the potential of AI as a way to save time and let artists focus on what they enjoy most, others have expressed fears over job losses and concerns about the quality of AI-generated outputs. Booty and Sharma seemed to land somewhere in the middle, citing AI as a valuable way to accomplish more and even raise the bar for game quality as development becomes more specialized, while stressing the importance of keeping humans at the core of this work.
Drag weapons to fill the grid
Drag weapons to fill the grid
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AI use has been rising across the industry as a whole, but Xbox’s new leaders face particular scrutiny over the topic. Before becoming Xbox CEO, Sharma served as President of Microsoft’s CoreAI product. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has also mused that AI could generate entire games in the future, though Sharma and Booty seem opposed to that idea in their latest statements on the matter. While they don’t appear anti-AI in any way, with both expressing high hopes for what it can do in development, these new comments on the importance of human artists and developers should offer some relief to fans worried about AI in Xbox games.
Xbox’s new leaders touched on more fan anxieties than just the use of AI at the company. The executives also stated that Xbox is fully committed to first-party games and expressed the intent to return to the brand’s roots, especially as it pertains to consoles. Only time will tell how these commitments play out or if Xbox sticks by these statements in the future. For now, though, Booty and Sharma seem to understand audiences’ concerns and have offered what may be a breath of fresh air for some Xbox fans.
Source: Windows Central
