The idea of a rogue artificial intelligence (AI) is the kind of thing that science fiction has been running on for years. Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) would like to prevent that, and so it recently brought out Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC), a system designed to keep the agents restrained, and doing just what they should be…and absolutely nothing more. Investors were pleased that Skynet may have been nipped in the bud, and gave Microsoft a modest boost to share prices in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
MXC is described as a “…cross-platform, policy-driven execution layer for AI agents on Windows and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL),” and recently went live in an early preview. Basically, MXC allows developers to fence in their agents with established constraints, and then let MXC enforce those restraints. This helps ensure that the system works how it should.
Windows Security Corporate Vice President Dana Huang and Windows Platform Corporate Vice President Logan Iyer offered further explanation, noting, “Containment bounds what agents can access and do, so non-deterministic behavior doesn’t translate into uncontrollable risk. Agent behavior is dynamic and often generated at runtime. The agent often uses models to generate complex code for each prompt that can read, act and chain multiple operations.”
Undead Labs Gets Moved
Good news, of a sort, recently emerged for those looking forward to State of Decay 3 like I am. The recent plans to get rid of Undead Labs will not actually hinder development, and may see the game go live on multiple platforms. Xbox Game Pass, meanwhile, may not necessarily be one of those, thanks to a recent behind-the-scenes deal.
Reports note that those who thought Undead Labs was allowed to show off State of Decay 3 at the recent summer showcase to encourage a new buyer to step in might have been right. Undead Labs is actually under new ownership, reports note, though we do not yet know who that owner is. And, part of the deal provided funding for Undead Labs to carry on with State of Decay 3 development, meaning that the game that was already so close to completion it was doing playtesting is likely to be completely finished at some point.
Is Microsoft a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 36 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 22.13% loss in its share price over the past year, the average MSFT price target of $563.62 per share implies 43.19% upside potential.
