Sony Launches AI Censorship Tool, PS5, Xbox and Nintendo Consoles Targeted

Sony has been busy over recent months by implementing a series of changes aimed at both making the PlayStation 5 better as well as testing the waters for the PlayStation 6.

With gaming technology forever evolving, the major companies have to keep up with the demand and with AI being more and more popular, despite criticism over the use of generative AI, Sony has patented an AI censorship tool. Aimed at the PS5 and PS6, documents add that the technology is also going to be a focus for other rival consoles including Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Switch hardware.

Aimed at making any game child-friendly, the tool will be fully automated and tailored to specific users based on what they would and would not like to see in upcoming game releases.

Filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment on 9 December, the patent reveals that the processor will be able to detect and access a game’s audio and video and in term, will be able to provide censorship.

This can include everything from muting slurs to blurring gore and nudity, and in turn, the censored audio and video can be muted or hidden entirely or even replaced with deepfake AI technology so that you will hear or see something altogether different.

“Artificial intelligence (AI) models are disclosed to customize audio video (AV) content, such as video game content, based on user-provided content filtering parameters,” the official patent description reads.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

AI Can Be Catered To Your Needs

If it is successful, the AI technology will be able to detect any content that the user has specifically requested to censor with a second processor being implemented to obscure the selected content.

PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles would benefit from this technology as Sony notes that the patent will work on most major computer ecosystems.

As a result, some major upcoming AAA releases could give users the choice to censor adult language, nudity, gore, alcohol use, scenes of a sexual nature and more.

This would not benefit the average player, but it will definitely make many games viable for children (even without an age certificate) and it will also help streamers and content creators.

Additionally, the patent reveals that players will be informed of upcoming content both ahead of the playback and during it. During this time, the AI will carry out the censorship based on your preference.

Then, the user can choose whether to “remove the content” or “replace the content” and with Sony stating that the technology is highly flexible, users are able to set their own parameters at will.

For games such as Grand Theft Auto VI, it is hard to believe that any content would be accessible with this AI technology implemented.

However, it is clear that Sony wishes to come up with a way to make every game playable and accessible to all ages and this newly acquired patent could very much achieve that.