PlayStation Studios

Sony Interactive Entertainment deployed PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), an AI-powered image upscaling system, on the PlayStation 5 Pro console that analyzes game images pixel by pixel to render them at higher visual quality than the base resolution.

PSSR is described by Sony as 'an AI library that analyzes game images pixel by pixel as it upscales them.' As of February 2026, PSSR had been used to boost the effective resolution of over 50 PS5 Pro titles. An upgraded version of PSSR, developed in collaboration with AMD under 'Project Amethyst,' was rolled out via system software update in March 2026, with improvements to image reconstruction precision, motion stability, and developer flexibility. The new PSSR algorithm and neural network are co-developed with AMD's FSR 4 upscaling technology. The system is available to all PS5 Pro users via console settings, and game developers can opt into PSSR support through patches.

Sony Interactive Entertainment tested an internal prototype in which an AI-powered version of a PlayStation game character could hold real-time voice conversations with players, using Sony's own Emotional Voice Synthesis system and Mockingbird technology for speech and facial animation.

In March 2025, an internal video from Sony's PlayStation Studios Advanced Technology Group was leaked, showing a prototype AI-powered version of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West. The prototype combined OpenAI's Whisper for speech-to-text input, GPT-4 and Llama 3 for dialogue and decision-making, Sony's internal Emotional Voice Synthesis (EVS) system for voice output, and Mockingbird for facial animation. The video was narrated by a Sony director of software engineering and described as 'just a glimpse of what is possible.' Sony CEO Hideaki Nishino later referenced similar AI NPC prototypes in his May 2026 earnings presentation, describing internal demos where 'NPCs with their own personalities can create a living, dynamic world.' There is no public confirmation this technology has been deployed in any released product.

Sony Interactive Entertainment uses an internal AI tool at its first-party studios that converts video footage of real hairstyles into detailed strand-level 3D hair models, reducing what had been a labor-intensive manual process.

According to CEO Hideaki Nishino's May 2026 earnings presentation, the tool takes video recordings of real hairstyles as input and outputs 3D models containing hundreds of individual strand models. Nishino described hair animation as 'often a labor-intensive process, given the volume of strands that must be created.' The tool has been used on released PlayStation Studios titles. No specific tool name was disclosed for this system, and the exact studios using it were not named separately from the broader group of PlayStation Studios.