Technologies

Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot AI Now Can Help You Beat That Tough Boss on PC

Gaming Copilot won’t play the game for you but it will give you advice.

Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot, a beta AI assistant meant to help gamers, is out now on PC and will come to the Xbox mobile app next month, the company said in a blog post on Monday. Microsoft says Gaming Copilot will launch on PC gaming handhelds, like the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox consoles in the near future.

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Gaming Copilot is still in beta and is available to users 18 and older and in all regions except China. Players can ask Copilot questions using the AI assistant’s voice mode for recommendations, help and other insights.

PC players will now see Gaming Copilot in the Game Bar, an on-screen overlay that you can call up during a gaming session. Gaming Copilot launches next month on the Xbox app for iOS and Android.

With voice mode, you can have a conversation with Copilot about your gaming, asking for tips and guidance on quests or boss battles. There’s a push-to-talk feature that lets you assign a key to quickly bring up Gaming Copilot. It’ll also be possible to pin a Gaming Copilot widget on-screen, which Microsoft calls Mini Mode, to interact with the AI assistant.

«When you ask Copilot a question, it combines this understanding with your player activity on Xbox and public sources of information from the Bing search engine for its response,» a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. «We are also working on a way for creators to contribute and curate the information that Gaming Copilot shares for their games.»

It’s uncertain if Gaming Copilot is pulling information from game guides found online, on sites such as CNET’s sister site IGN, Polygon or The Gamer. Writing game guides is often time-consuming and labor-intensive. These sites gain a substantial amount of traffic through guides, however, often via search engines. AI giving users answers directly could eat away at this significant traffic driver.

With Microsoft investing heavily in AI, throwing $13 billion into ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, the company is finding ways to put the technology in everything from Windows to Notepad. AI is also helping Microsoft’s Google Search competitor, Bing.

Microsoft’s continued AI investments, along with its strong cloud support and dominance in enterprise, led Wall Street to shower the company with support. AI hype, along with other factors, helped propel Microsoft to a $3 trillion valuation last year.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Microsoft Research also showed off a new AI model, Muse, that could generate gameplay visuals, mainly for video game ideation.

How to use Gaming Copilot on PC

Install the Xbox app on PC.
Press Windows + G to open Game Bar.
Click on the Copilot icon.
Log in to your Microsoft account for full functionality.

How to use Gaming Copilot on mobile

Install the Xbox app.
Tap on the Copilot icon.
Begin conversing with Copilot. It should sync with the game you’re playing on PC.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 16, #889

Here are some hints — and the answers — for the NYT Connections puzzle for Nov. 16, #889.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a fun one. As a pop-culture junkie and game lover, I enjoyed the purple category. If you need help sorting the answers into groups, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Different strokes for different folks.

Green group hint: Ho-hum.

Blue group hint: Flags often qualify.

Purple group hint: Do not pass Go.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Technique.

Green group: Run-of-the-mill.

Blue group: Stripy things.

Purple group: Words on Monopoly squares.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is technique. The four answers are approach, method, philosophy and school.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is run-of-the-mill. The four answers are banal, everday, humdrum and pedestrian.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is stripy things.The four answers are barcode, IBM logo, rugby shirt and zebra.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is words on Monopoly squares. The four answers are avenue, parking, railroad and tax.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 16 #623

Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle for Nov. 16, No. 623.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is tough. It’s a weird theme, and some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Around it goes.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: They’re often on a roll.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

CARE, SCARE, CRASS, SWAT, PELL, HELL, SCAR, HALT, STENT, HALTS, TENT, POLL, LOTS

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

FOIL, SCARF, SHAWL, STOLE, FLATBREAD, CELLOPHANE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is THATSAWRAP. To find it, start with the T that’s three letters up from the bottom of the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.