‘Impressive and Depressing’: Horizon Forbidden West AI Aloy Prototype Leaked

Sony is working on a prototype AI version of one of PlayStation’s leading characters. According to The Verge, a behind-the-scenes video showing off Horizon Forbidden West’s AI-controlled Aloy has leaked into the public domain.

Image Source: PlayStation

The seven-minute video, originally posted on YouTube, was removed shortly after The Verge’s publication at Sony’s request for copyright infringement, but a copy can still be found on the social network VKontakte (see video below).

In the demo, the AI ​​version of Aloy (without leaving the character) answers the user’s questions, takes them to Horizon Forbidden West, and, following the gameplay session, recounts everything that happened in it in a condensed form.

The system in the video was running on PC, but the team managed to get Whisper and Mockingbird running on PS5

According to PlayStation Studios Advanced Technology Group employee Sharwin Raghoebardajal, the AI ​​version of Aloy is based on several technologies:

• Whisper speech recognition system from OpenAI;
• Large language models GPT-4 (OpenAI) and Llama 3 (Meta✴) – responsible for conversation and decision-making;
• Sony’s own system, Emotional Voice Synthesis, is used for voice synthesis;
• Another Sony system, Mockingbird, is used to generate facial animation.

Raghobardayal stressed that this is a prototype created in collaboration with Guerrilla Games for a closed-door demonstration at the Sony Technology Exchange Fair in Tokyo in November: “Just a glimpse of what will be possible.”

Commentators believe Sony should have focused on other initiatives, such as a Bloodborne remaster.

Users do not share the developer’s enthusiasm. Fans considered the AI ​​version of Aloy to be repulsive, interaction with her to be awkward, and the prospects of her release to be frightening. “Impressive and depressing at the same time,” ArgeuAlcantara shared.

Fans found the creation of an AI version of the heroine from the Horizon series particularly ironic given that, according to the plot of the games in the franchise, AI was responsible for the destruction of humanity on Earth.