Sony Interactive Entertainment uses an internal AI tool called Mockingbird at its first-party game studios to automatically generate 3D facial animations from performance capture data, a task that previously required hours of manual animator work.

Mockingbird uses machine learning to convert performance capture recordings into animated 3D facial models. According to Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino, animation work that previously took hours can now be completed in a fraction of a second. Studios including Naughty Dog and San Diego Studio have adopted the tool, and it has already been used in released titles such as Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. Sony has stated that Mockingbird does not replace human performers, but optimizes how their captured data is processed.