Project Ava is Razer’s stab at an all-knowing AI gaming copilot

By Giovanni Colantonio Published January 7, 2025

Razer unveiled a new conceptual tech project at CES 2025 that it has dubbed Project Ava. The hardware company calls it “the ultimate AI gaming copilot,” as it would theoretically help players get through tough spots in games and act as a personal esports coach.

Every year, Razer reveals a few conceptual products at CES. These are more aspirational experiments rather than actual products, but they sometimes become a reality after the show. For instance, Razer revealed an RGB face mask during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. That later became the Zephyr, a smart mask that landed Razer in legal trouble after users claimed the company misrepresented its N95 certification. This year’s concept is likely to stir up some controversy of its own.

Project Ava is an AI assistant that could theoretically have multiple functions. For esports players, it could generate post-game reports that give players tips on how to improve. Razer also claims that it could assist players more generally in games by helping them solve puzzles, beat bosses, or complete quests by drawing on community knowledge. It could even help players optimize their game’s graphics settings with a click of a button, in theory.

In a demo video, Razer shows Ava running during a Black Myth: Wukong boss fight. A robotic voice barks out tips as the fight progresses, explaining which attacks to dodge and what to do once its health bar drops below 20%. During CES, Razer showed off a demo of it being used during a round of Dota 2.

Project Ava’s natural language is built on Llama, Meta’s open-source AI model. From there, Ava was trained on individual games, though Razer says that similarities between genres may allow knowledge on one game to carry over to another.

All of that raises some ethical questions that Razer would have to answer if Project Ava became a reality. Where would such an AI tool pull specific game tips like puzzle solutions from, for example? Would it need to scrape guides from websites like Digital Trends to accomplish that or is its current training enough? And would it technically be cheating for someone to have a voice in their ear telling them what to do in an esports competition?

Razer says that it’s not quite grappling with those questions yet as Ava is just an internal concept, but it plans to work directly with developers and creators if it decides to make it a reality.

“Currently, Project Ava is only available as an internal concept demo,” Razer says in a statement to Digital Trends. “As we develop this product further, we will carefully review all data sources and be sure we are working with game developers and content partners. It will be reviewed for legal compliance and made available as opt-in only once Ava is ready for broader beta testing.”

As for how it would all work, Razer says that there are a few forms Project Ava could take. It could be available via a chatbox or even appear as a voice in players’ headsets. It’s a bit of a loose concept compared to previous Razer CES experiments, but the company plans to test it via an upcoming beta for both developers and players.