Tech Desk 
Mar 12, 2025
In a major push to leverage the prowess of artificial intelligence (AI), Sony is reportedly testing AI characters to introduce across PlayStation titles.
Initially, the entertainment conglomerate is experimenting with a prototype of Aloy, the most famous character from the Horizon Forbidden West.
Citing a prolific leaker, The Verge referred to a video leak showcasing Aloy responding to voice commands in real time with the help of AI-generated speech and facial animations.
Sony's prototype of AI character for PlayStation
Sony Interactive Entertainment joined hands with Guerrilla Games to design the prototype, which was tested and demonstrated by Sharwin Raghoebardajal, Director of Software Engineering.
Detailing the AI tools playing a significant role in developing Aloy's AI-controlled clone, Raghoebardajal noted that the demo uses OpenAI’s Whisper for speech-to-text, GPT-4 and Llama 3 for conversations and decision-making, and Sony’s in-house tools like Emotional Voice Synthesis (EVS) for voice generation and Mockingbird for audio-to-face animation.
Although the demo was carried out on a PC, Raghoebardajal disclosed that the company has also tested the prototype on PlayStation 5 hardware with equally impressive performance.
It's worth mentioning that Sony has brought about this fusion of graphics and AI by developing on the foundational model it produced a year back, whose advanced version was previewed at its internal Sony Technology Exchange Fair (STEF) in Tokyo last November.
