For the past year, gamers have been up in arms over game companies using generative AI, and AI modeling technology in general, in their video games. Microsoft has been most visible in their use of AI, and Phil Spencer recently made it clear that the gaming side of Microsoft’s business is also doing research on it.
Subsequently, third party developers like Electronic Arts have also been upfront about their use of AI. In EA’s case, they clearly explained how AI was used to build a gameplay system in EA Sports FC, that did not lead to any creator losing their job, and was genuinely planned to make their work easier.
While gamers continue to be skeptical about generative AI, and the AI modeling technology behind it, it remains a struggle for the industry to get fans to get behind the technology. As it turns out, just because one of these companies does not reveal their use of AI, does not mean that they aren’t actually using the technology.
As reported by The Verge, a video has leaked revealing that Sony made an actual chatbot using Aloy, the protagonist of the Horizon franchise. That video is already getting copyright claimed and pulled online, but we’ll cut straight to what you wanted to know.
The Aloy chatbot uses OpenAI’s whisper for speech-to-text. Aloy herself talks using a combination of OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Meta’s LLaMa 3. These are both large language models (LLMs), the same technology that many consumers are condemning for their large carbon footprint.
The Verge also refers to Sony’s internal Emotional Voice Synthesis system, which PlayStation themselves revealed was one of their research areas last March 2023. Subsequently, Sony’s AI division published two papers specifically for voice synthesis and localization just last month. To be clear, AI, machine learning, and voice synthesis all existed before AI models and generative AI technologies were invented. So we aren’t entirely sure if Sony’s Emotional Voice Synthesis also uses generative AI or AI models technology itself. But what this video reveals is that they are already using it with generative AI.
As disappointing as this may sound to some gamers, now that we see that game companies are working on generative AI without disclosing it, it’s entirely possible a lot of your favorite game developers and companies are already using, or at least experimenting, with generative AI. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they will eventually use them on their video games. But if you don’t want the industry to adopt this technology, you will need to make that message more clear to the industry.
