Sony Explores AI-Enhanced Gaming Characters, Sparking Mixed Reactions

Sony is experimenting with AI-driven characters in gaming, aiming to deepen player interactions, though the technology’s current state has received mixed reviews.

Sony’s diving headfirst into the wild world of AI-driven characters in gaming, and let’s just say, it’s not your grandma’s NPC dialogue anymore. Imagine chatting with Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West, and she actually gets you—thanks to some serious AI magic. Sharwin Raghoebardajal, Sony’s director of software engineering, gave us a sneak peek where Aloy spilled the beans about her mom quest, and honestly, it was kinda spooky how real it felt.

But here’s the kicker: it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The tech’s still got that ‘almost human but not quite’ vibe, landing it squarely in the uncanny valley. (You know, when something’s so close to real it just feels… off.) Teaming up with Guerrilla Games, Sony’s throwing OpenAI’s whisper model, GPT-4, and Llama 3 into the mix to cook up these conversations. Fancy, right?

Just when the gaming world was starting to buzz, poof—the demo vanished, courtesy of Muso, Sony’s copyright watchdogs. Talk about playing hard to get. Now, everyone’s on the edge of their seats: will Sony actually roll this out in games, or is it just another tech demo to tease us? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure—Sony’s not done pushing the envelope with AI.