A new patent filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment reveals that the company is exploring the use of AI for censoring audio and video based on user-provided content filtering parameters.
Sony’s ‘AUTOMATIC BESPOKE EDITS OF VIDEO CONTENT USING AI’ Patent details
SIE’s new patent is titled “AUTOMATIC BESPOKE EDITS OF VIDEO CONTENT USING AI” and the description of the filing reveals that the company is currently exploring ways to use AI-powered tools to tailor entertainment experiences for different users. The patent specifically gives examples of customizing audio video (AV) content for video game content.
Although this type of functionality would likely be a welcome asset for parents of younger gamers, its implementation would definitely raise some serious conversations around the intersection of AI and art. Gamers have recently seen how comments around the exploration of AI at Larian Studios have caused a lot of drama for that team. It seems likely that some creators and consumers might take issue with AI altering finished products to help censor them.
If the tool merely provides a warning or road blocks when certain parameters are triggered, that would likely cause much less concern. That said, if the tool actually can make “bespoke edits” to video and audio content to change or remove certain content, that would be a different story. The patent suggests that the AI tool would act in real-time, meaning it could mute the game to silence swear words or blur out nudity or gruesome scenes.
How Is the Sony AI tool different from other safety settings?
The biggest difference between what this patent proposes and what most current safety settings and parental controls do is that this tool would add an additional safety layer beyond whatever the developers baked into the game.
The tool’s suggested ability to react to what is happening on the screen and change things on the fly could drastically change the way parents think about age restrictions and which games they allow their kids to play.
The patent explains that the tool could be used on most major computer ecosystems. That means that if the tool does make its way from concept to production, it could ultimately have an impact not just on PlayStation owners, but on Nintendo, Xbox, or even PC gamers as well.
Keep in mind that this is simply a patent filing, which does not guarantee that a final product will ever actually see the light of day.
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