Sony Interactive Entertainment uses deep learning to build autonomous gameplay agents that can play PS5 games under human-equivalent conditions, automating system software function tests to identify defects earlier in development.

Presented at CEDEC 2024 (Computer Entertainment Developers Conference), the system combines two AI components: a Replay Agent that reproduces recorded button sequences, and an Imitation Agent trained via imitation learning on human gameplay footage to handle unpredictable scenarios in real time. The system uses on-screen information only, replicating ordinary user conditions. It was developed to address the growing cost of manual QA testing as games scale in complexity. Sony describes the goal as lowering testing costs and identifying defects earlier in the development cycle.