Sony Patent Would Let an AI Model Train NPCs Based on Your Player Data

If one thing's been abundantly clear over the last year, it's that Sony and Microsoft are both champing at the bit to work AI features into the next generation of consoles. And now, Sony has filed another patent that would use AI to train NPCs based on data generated by you, the player.

This new patent, called "AI-adapted non-player character for video game system," describes a process of taking data generated from playing a game and then using it to modify NPCs in order to make them more lifelike.

But unlike Nvidia's ACE program, which uses a large language model to essentially script NPC dialogue, Sony's proposed system could change everything about an NPC, from its design to its behavior in, say, a boss fight. Sony asserts that this is necessary to create more lifelike games, without bloating development time and budgets even more than they already are.

The patent says that "developing such believable NPCs is challenging due to …