A leaked video has revealed an artificial intelligence version of the character Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West, having a conversation with Sharwin Raghoebardajal, director of software engineering at Sony Interactive Entertainment. This material, now removed due to copyright, showed Aloy interacting in an apparently natural way, thanks to a system that uses OpenAI’s Whisper for voice conversion, OpenAI and Llama for interaction, and facial animations developed in-house by Sony.
The reception from the public has not been precisely positive
The system, which currently works on PC and consoles, has been described as a “rapid prototyping project” by Raghoebardajal. Despite its advancements, the interaction showed a still poor quality, being rated by many on YouTube as “creepy” and “stale”. The criticisms focused on the video production and an expressed desire for Sony to redirect its efforts towards other projects, such as a remaster of Bloodborne.
In addition to the negative reaction to the video, comments have also focused their concerns on the long-term impact of AI on the video game industry, especially regarding the relevance of voice actors in future productions. Although Sony is not the only company working on similar technologies, others like Ubisoft and Nvidia are also exploring AI applications in their developments, a trend that presents both promises and challenges.
As AI begins to take a more prominent role in video game development, there are fears about the decline in the quality of human performances, which could lead to a more cost-effective approach at the expense of a less enriching gaming experience. Despite this, many argue that there is a place for the improvement of artificial intelligence in video games, suggesting that the conversation about its use should be careful and thoughtful.
So far, there has been no official statement from Sony regarding the video and its reaction to the generated criticism.
