The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has insisted that Microsoft is not mandating the use of AI within game development. 

Speaking on a panel at the Paley International Council Summit – as reported by IGN – the exec said that while artificial intelligence is in use within the division, it is mostly on the operational side rather than the creative. 

"Our applications of AI today are mostly actually on the security and protection of our networks," Spencer said. 

"It's now at a scale where you can't really moderate the safety of those with just people alone. The volume is too high. So we have AI that we use to make sure that the conversation and topics that are happening, and for protected child accounts and other things and who gets to talk to those accounts to those people, is locked down by parents or guardians who are setting those controls. That's our primary use of AI inside of our organisation today, which maybe isn't the most glamorous use of AI, but it's something that I fundamentally believe in."

Spencer did say that AI is in use at Xbox, but the specifics are down to individual teams. 

"On the creative side, I really leave it up to the teams," he continued. 

"I have found that creative teams will use tools that make their job easier when it makes their job easier, and any top-down mandate that 'Thou must use a certain tool'...is not really a path to success. I look at the teams, and we make tools available, and I kind of let it organically percolate."

This follows reports that Microsoft – which has a huge investment in AI – mandating the technology's usage with its own staff.