Amid the riotous AI hype cycle, companies are promising that their agent AI will — eventually, at least — do everything from your grocery shopping to booking your travel plans.
And what will you do with that extra free time? Come back and play some video games? Or would you rather deploy another AI to play the game for you while you watch passively like the slack-jawed humans in “WALL-E”?
It may sound like parody, but that’s exactly what Japanese tech giant Sony is trying to do: let AI navigate PlayStation games on behalf of the human player. according to a patent Filed in September 2024 and appeared by Video Game ChronicleThe company has plans for a “Ghost Player” that will take over the player’s character to find solutions when stuck.
According to the patent, gamers will choose between a “guide mode” that shows an AI the proper way to proceed or a “full mode” that will simply assume control over the player character and play the entire thing on their behalf.
It’s an eyebrow-raising example of how companies are looking to use AI to essentially remove human agency under the guise of making our lives easier. Gamers have turned to walkthroughs and hints for years, but usually after banging their heads against difficult challenges, and therefore learning something in the process.
Technically, accessibility options in video games are nothing new. Many modern titles allow gamers to adjust the difficulty on the fly or even skip certain sections if things become too difficult. Sony’s PlayStation 5 console also features a game help system, which provides players with easily accessible guides and hints in between games.
Adding AI to that paradigm is clearly of interest to the gaming industry. Last year, Microsoft already introduced an Xbox “AI-powered Sidekick” copilot for gamingWhich can train gamers to improve their skills. However, large language model-based features are limited to voice and text signals.
On a broader scale, AI has been used in the video game industry proved incredibly controversialMany gamers have reacted with disgust to game studios using AI for creative tasks, such as coming up with promotional artwork or generating character voices,
Nonetheless, company leaders like Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney have vowed to use “A.I.”almost all future production,
Whether companies will move forward to introduce AI agents that play video games on behalf of players remains to be seen – but judging by Sony’s patent, they are certainly already thinking about it.
Gamers aren’t exactly optimistic about AI encroaching on the experience, especially amid deep confusion over how developers and studios actually want to leverage the technology. one in piece for the gamerJournalist Mike Drucker predicted that 2026 “will be the year when AI in gaming becomes extremely annoying.”
More on AI and video games: We’re laughing and crying over this footage of an AI-generated video game
