Sony AI Subsidiary Is Developing Smarter AI For Gaming

Sony AI, a division of Sony focused on developing and working with artificial intelligence, is working with Sony Interactive Entertainment to make video game AI smarter. Sony AI was established in April 2020 and has quietly been working on advancements within the field. In Sony's latest corporate strategy meeting presentation, there was a page dedicated to a "Collaboration in Game AI" between the two divisions of the company.

The presentation was given by Sony President and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida who said "Sony AI, which we established last year, has begun a collaboration with PlayStation that will make game experiences even richer and more enjoyable. By leveraging reinforcement learning, we are developing Game AI Agents that can be a player's in-game opponent or collaboration partner."

The quote itself doesn't provide much in the way of details, except that Sony is looking to improve on current video game AI. Sony did recently file a patent application for an AI profile that learns from the way a person plays, eventually gaining enough knowledge to take over for the player and make similar decisions. Using AI that has learned from players in a multiplayer setting could make for more-competitive NPCs in video games. The patent states the AI could give players the ability to let the AI takeover if they were unable to complete a section in a game or they could let it take over for them in a co-op game if they needed to step away.

It's hard to say what exactly will come out of this collaboration between Sony AI and SIE or if they will ever publicly say when technology is produced from this collaboration. Sony's strategy meeting revealed a few other tidbits of information, including the fact that Sony has 10 movie and television projects based on its PlayStation IP in the works. Sony also mentioned its continued dedication to expanding its PlayStation IP into mobile titles.