Sony is working on AI that censors games in real time

A new patent has revealed that Sony is working on tech that uses AI to censor games in real time, allowing it to make violent scenes kid-friendly in an instant.

Many games offer controls to reduce the amount of time or money players spend while online, such as Fortnite or even Roblox. But what if you could actually edit what’s on screen to make it more child-friendly?

That’s exactly what Sony is working on, according to a new patent spotted by Retro Handhelds.

Sony patents AI technology that can censor games in real-time

Essentially, the proposed technology would use AI to monitor what is happening onscreen and change it. For example, it could take a particularly violent scene and remove the blood to make it less graphic or blur out any gruesome visuals.

It could even mute dialogue so that kids aren’t exposed to foul language or potentially offensive words.

The idea would be that parents can determine their own rules beforehand to ensure the AI targets the content they want to be censored. So, if you didn’t mind your kids hearing some light swearing but draw the line at brutal violence, you could set the system up in this way.

This is different from how current content filters work, as these are usually baked in by the devs and are predetermined. However, this would react to what’s actually happening onscreen and edit it on the fly, making it more comprehensive and reactive.

In theory, this would mean that games that were previously age-restricted could conceivably be played by younger audiences, if all of the adult content were automatically filtered out. Imagine GTA without guns or Call of Duty without blood effects.

This all sounds great on paper, especially for families who share a console, but it also raises some questions. How consistently would it flag the right content? Would it change the age restrictions on new games? Would developers be on board with their work being altered in a way they can’t control?

Only time will tell if this technology actually makes its way into future PlayStation consoles, but if Sony has gone through the effort to patent it, it’s clearly serious about it.