Sony is working on an AI-powered version of one of its PlayStation game characters. A leaked video shared with The Verge shows an AI-powered version of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West. After the story was published, the video was removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim.
The video was narrated by Sharwin Raghoebardajal, a director at Sony Interactive Entertainment. He demonstrated how the AI version of Aloy can have conversations with players using voice prompts. Aloy responds with an AI-generated voice and facial movements, both in a test environment and within the full game.
The AI system uses OpenAI’s Whisper for speech recognition, GPT-4 and Llama 3 for conversations, and Sony’s own technology for voice synthesis and face animation. While the demo ran on a PC, Sony has tested parts of this AI on PlayStation 5 with minimal performance impact. The technology was first shown internally a year ago and later at Sony’s tech fair in Tokyo.
Sony is not alone in exploring AI for games. Nvidia has developed AI-powered NPCs that allow players to speak freely with characters. Microsoft is also working on AI-generated game content and characters for Xbox.
The use of AI in gaming is raising concerns among developers, especially as layoffs affect the industry. A recent survey found that nearly half of game developers already use generative AI tools at work. Sony’s AI experiments are expected to spark more discussion at the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.
Sony has not yet commented on the leaked video or its removal.
Source: theverge
