If you don’t have company, Sony will train robots to play games with you

If artificial intelligence in the games themselves were at an enviable level, then it might be wise to dedicate yourself to developing artificial intelligence to help you play those games. Still, the people at Sony don’t think it’s too early for that but want to provide players with the services of so-called artificial intelligence agents.

It was rumored that a patent was registered for a technology by which AI agents, and we can freely call them robots, would learn to play video games by analyzing how the player himself does it. Now, this has been officially confirmed by Sony.

At yesterday’s strategic meeting, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida was not rich in details but said the service of AI agents would make the gaming experience even richer and more enjoyable. According to the patent itself, a random AI profile will be assigned to everyone's PSN profile, which will eventually follow the habits of the player to whom that profile is associated. Then the user, if he wants, could take advantage of what artificial intelligence has learned from him and create a teammate or opponent for local multiplayer. Or he could order an artificial intelligence agent to play the game for him, according to his preferences.

The ultimate goal would be to automate boring actions in games for the player, or in cooperative games, the AI ​​agent would “sit down” and play with your friends while you are at lunch. This practice could be useful to some players, but on the other hand, it could kill the challenge in today's already simplified games.

It also poses a potential danger to all PlayStation trophy hunters, as some trophies often require insane or boring grinding. However, this information is only at the level of the patent and the early stages of development, and whether and how exactly all this will be integrated into gaming itself, remains at Sony's discretion.

It is worth noting that using artificial intelligence to create a compelling virtual project is not otherwise a new technology. For example, the Forza series has been using a Driveatar system that mimics players for years, while Blitzkrieg 3 introduced “General Boris” four years ago - artificial intelligence that learns after every match. However, such applications are still game-to-game and have not yet been launched in the form of a service targeted at Sony.

Finally, it should also be noted that in the history of gaming, there was already a robot that could serve players as a society or an opponent in playing games. Now, artificial intelligence had nothing to do with R.O.B. the Robot. Or any intelligence.