Sony Testing AI-Powered Versions of PlayStation Characters

A leak shows that Sony has developed an AI prototype that can take on the persona of Horizon Forbidden West‘s Aloy to engage in conversation with its users. Although only one character has been shown off following this test, it’s possible that Sony could plan to use this tech with its other mascots like Kratos, Joel, Ellie, and many more once it’s ready for a release.

It has become clear that despite being somewhat quiet about their progress so far, many of the leading gaming companies are actively developing AI-based models and prototypes to achieve various goals. One example is the Microsoft Muse AI model, which was trained on Ninja Theory’s Bleeding Edge to produce working versions of playable games to preserve older titles. Now, Sony appears to be putting its spin on AI technology.

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Per a report by The Verge, Sony is testing AI chat models, and its current mascots could end up being the faces of anything the company ultimately produces. A leaked video surfaced on the internet following an anonymous tip about Sony’s recent experiments. In the video, Sharwin Raghoebardajal, a Sony Interactive Entertainment software engineering director, speaks to a version of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West that’s been powered by AI in collaboration with developer Guerrilla Games.

Sony AI Prototype Video Leaks

Raghoebardajal has a short conversation with Aloy, asking how she’s doing before she mentions having a sore throat, which may have been a joke to explain why she doesn’t sound like the iconic Ashly Burch rendition. After small talk, Raghoebardajal asks a bit about Aloy’s backstory, and she talks about her journeys, referencing moments from the Horizon games. To achieve this, the team at Sony used OpenAI’s Whisper along with GPT-4, Meta’s Llama 3, and Sony’s Emotional Voice Synthesis technology. This led to a speech-to-text model capable of accounting for what the user is saying, making decisions, and responding with appropriate vocal and facial reactions to facilitate conversation. Although many have already seen the video, provoking mixed reactions, Muso, a copyright enforcement company attached to Sony, released a claim and took the source down.

There are numerous directions that PlayStation could be headed with this type of AI technology. The AI model of Aloy answers questions about the world she inhabits, expanding on prompts and filling in gaps with details from her game’s story. There’s a chance that this could be implemented as an interactive way for players to refresh on stories if they’ve missed out. For a practical approach, this model could end up replacing or working alongside the PS5 Game Help feature, but it could also be used for things like events or exhibits. Regardless, it doesn’t seem like Sony is ready to officially reveal this tech just yet.

Sony

Date Founded

May 7, 1946

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Minato City, Tokyo, Japan