Ghost gamer: Sony patent aims to continue gameplay with AI aid even when player is distracted

A new patent filed by Sony intends to allow gamers to continue their gameplay while dealing with temporary distractions, such as notifications and text messages. The technology aims to leverage AI and ML to put gameplay into a "soft pause" mode, as opposed to an all-or-nothing pause button.

Texting while gaming might finally become safer

Essentially, the feature, when activated, will put gameplay in a state of reduced intensity, requiring less attention. This includes the utilization of tools such as aim-assists and the like, as well as slowing down game pace, moderating difficulty, and boosting player health and resources when the feature is activated.

It is unclear how such a feature will be perceived by gamers, because it does appear to grant an unfair advantage.

Moreover, a feature such as this one will most definitely not be tolerated by competitive games, and likely only limited to non-ranked game modes. Sony does mention "enemy or friend" in one of the patent images attached above, which seems to indicate that multiplayer games will be supported.

Whether the behavior-cloning model will be trained with individual gameplay data remains to be seen, but considering the computational demands of such an effort, a generalized player-mimicking AI mode seems more likely.

While this does sound somewhat like Forza's Drivatar, in-game opponents have long utilized machine learning to allow for an engaging gaming experience. Sony's patent is definitely quite interesting in that sense, because it would be the first time an AI model would be tasked with handling the very game itself on behalf of the player in real time.