PlayStation Removed AI-Powered Aloy From Horizon Forbidden West

What's become apparent, despite some of them being a little reticent about their advancements thus far, is that most of the major gaming players are indeed busy creating AI-driven models and prototypes for a myriad of purposes. A month after Microsoft introduced the Muse AI, Sony, now, seems to be taking its turn with AI tech.

A leak reveals that Sony has created an AI prototype that is capable of adopting the personality of Horizon Forbidden West's Aloy in order to chat with its users. While just a single character has been showcased after this test, there is a possibility that Sony may intend to implement this technology with its other mascots, such as Kratos, Joel, Ellie, and countless others, when it is ready to release.

According to a report from The Verge, Sony is experimenting with AI chat models, and its newest mascots may become the face of whatever the company ends up making. A leaked video appeared online after an anonymous tip regarding Sony's recent tests. In the video, Sony Interactive Entertainment software engineering director Sharwin Raghoebardajal is talking to an AI-powered version of Horizon Forbidden West's Aloy in partnership with developer Guerrilla Games.

Raghoebardajal briefly discusses with Aloy, inquiring how she is doing, before she responds that she has a sore throat, which might have been a joke for why she doesn't sound like the classic Ashly Burch version. Following small talk, Raghoebardajal inquires slightly about Aloy's past, and she discusses her adventures, citing events from the Horizon games. To make this possible, Sony's team utilized OpenAI's Whisper as well as GPT-4, Meta's Llama 3, and Sony's Emotional Voice Synthesis technology.

All those things 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 is in habits, expanding on prompts and filling in gaps with details from her game's story.

There's a chance 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 replace or work 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.