PlayStation's Polyphony Studio Will Showcase Later this Week a ‘Breakthrough AI Project’

Sony has had its hands within artificial intelligence efforts since the launch and establishment of the company's own AI subdivision in April of 2020. These AI projects have long been intended to enhance PlayStation endeavors, fueling imagination and growth within gaming as well as enhance the way robotics systems themselves can be utilized.

The four main projects under Sony's AI arm are specifically named as follows: gastronomy, gaming, imaging and sensing, and AI ethics. There seems, however, to be something even more enlightening and interesting hiding under the table, as an announcement on Monday, February 7th 2022 proves there's a breakthrough in the works and is planned to debut very soon.

In a mere 24-second long YouTube video made available today, Sony announced the forthcoming AI project as a collaborative effort with PlayStation's Polyphony, the studio behind Gran Turismo. Aside from the "Sony AI x Polyphony" tagline and a "Race Together" text, there was little additional information in the subtle tease. Sony relays that the project will be announced more in full come Wednesday, February 9th.

With Gran Turismo 7 on the near horizon, debuting on March 4th, the forthcoming AI project may well have something to do with either multiplayer aspects inside the game or something completely more revolutionary. GT7 received a 30-minute long PlayStation State of Play last week, underscoring everything from weather effects to the amount of cars players can expect in-game. There was, however, nothing in the form of AI concepts.

Sony has in the past utilized sophisticated bots to assist players and make games more difficult depending on the user. These so-called "Agents" acted as extremely enhanced bots that players would normally see within live service games, such as Fortnite and Call of Duty's Warzone, to boost the number of combatants on the field when a player base is limited. Except Sony's Agents' iterations were far more intelligent and acted more human-like than ever before.

Given this, it's safe then to assume that Sony's AI subdivision and Polyphony are working together to bring some robust AI drivers to its GT7 outing. In a year-old article on AI in gaming, writer Elizabeth Mixson quotes the CEO of Sony, Kenichiro Yoshida, who states "AI agents that can be a player's in-game opponent or collaboration partner" are being developed in order to bridge the gap between a simple bot into human capabilities.

In essence, the human here would be the teacher, assisting in the bot's inevitable learning curve as it grows to become incredibly life-like. How this will fit in exactly with GT7's release and Polyphony still remains only slightly blurred, but it's clear that the game will invite some incredible difficulty curves with ever-learning AI agents at the wheel.

Tune into PlayStation's YouTube channel or Sony AI's on February 9th for a clearer picture into the future of advanced gaming robotics.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Ryan Epps