Xbox's AI-Powered 'Support Virtual Agent' Now Available To Insiders

"How can I help you today?"

by Liam Doolan Tue 5th Nov 2024

Microsoft has announced its new AI-powered "Support Virtual Agent" is now rolling out to select Xbox Insiders on Xbox's support page today.

Support Virtual Agent will allow you to "quickly access information" from Xbox's support page and answer any issues related to your Xbox console and games. US Xbox users with 'English' as their preferred language can start this preview while they're signed into an official account registered as an Xbox Insider.

Here's another look, along with a bit more information about it:

"Once you click on “Ask a question,” you will see the Support Virtual Agent launch in a new browser window. You can ask the agent questions via text or voice, and it will answer with relevant information from support.xbox.com. If the Support Virtual Agent cannot solve the issue, you can request to speak with a live support agent as long as it is within Xbox Support’s normal hours of operation."

If you want to learn more or are eligible to try out this new "Support Virtual Agent", check out Xbox Wire for the full rundown. Could you see yourself making use of this new AI-powered support in the future? Have you already tried it out? Let us know in the comments.

[source news.xbox.com]

Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief.

1
Fishticon
Tue 5th Nov 2024

So basically what's happening is they're getting rid of customer support.

2
Vordus
Tue 5th Nov 2024

@Fishticon Oh, they did that long ago. I tried to get some support not long ago, you can only access human support through a phone call. And they have to decide whether you're worthy of a phone call. So because my issue was reasonably unique, that's not on the 'worthy of a phone call' list.

They also love telling you that you're going to connect to Microsoft support, but connecting you up with folks from the MS support forums (who aren't actually support folks and therefore can't deal with anything outside of the most general issues) instead.

3
InterceptorAlpha
Tue 5th Nov 2024

@Fishticon That started around the time they started offloading support questions to Xbox Ambassadors.

Also around the time I quit with it. I was there to foster community, not be a free worker.

4
Steel76
Tue 5th Nov 2024

As if the customer service don't already suck.
Now it's gonna get even worse, with an annoying AI that won't give me the answers I'm looking for.

I'm gonna sound like a boomer, but I miss the days, when I could just pick up the phone, and get a helpful human, on the other side of the line. No annoying "Press this for bla bla bla" and "You can find more information on our website blablabla" and then after what feels like an eternity, you MAYBE can talk to a human, that STILL can't give the help you need...

5
themightyant
Tue 5th Nov 2024

@Fishticon Nobody likes these AI assistants, but it's a cultural shift, that's to be expected. But to be fair good customer support is really expensive, and no one wants to pay for it.

My old company used to advise a lot of companies about AI Assistants like this and typically the reality is around 80+% of enquiries are the same basic questions that people could easily google themselves or find answers for on a FAQ page... but they don't. These basic questions end up eating up most of the customer support time and budget. Triaging these basic questions via AI and giving them a purely AI answer from the FAQ can actually speed up customer service for more complex issues that require a human, rather than having to wait on hold a long time while basic questions get answered that could easily be done another way.

But of course that also requires the company to keep investing in actual human support, even if it's less overall which is possible as you remove so much wasted time, and also to train them well... I haven't had to call Xbox in years so can't comment on that side of it. But I am for AI support, assisting human support like this, more generally. The AI is improving very quickly for this sort of task.

6
GeeEssEff
Tue 5th Nov 2024

@Steel76 Not boomerish at all. I base a lot of my decisions on things like phone and broadband contracts based on my experiences with their customer service teams. The whole reason I switched from Xbox One to PS4 as my main console was due to a series of really bad customer service experiences with Xbox.