Sony and AMD announce “Project Amethyst”: a multi-year collaboration to massively improve video game graphics and create revolutionary gameplay mechanics using AI. A technology that could be at the heart of the future PS6, and spread to the entire video game industry!
After 50 years of progress, video games seem to have reached a ceiling in terms of graphical improvement and gameplay innovation. However, they could now continue their evolution thanks to a revolutionary technology: artificial intelligence.
This December 18, 2024, Sony announced a partnership with AMDthe computer chip giant. The goal? Creating new AI technologies to improve graphics and gameplay video games.
And not just on PlayStation! The two companies want to establish a “ deep collaboration » to work on « Machine learning-based technologies for graphics and gameplay ».
This is what explains Mark Cerny, chief architect of the PS5 and the PS5 Pro. This collaboration is codenamed « Project Amethyst ».
Project Amethyst: the AI that will enable games with photorealistic graphics
As a reminder, Sony and AMD are already in partnership around the PS5 and PS5 Pro GPU. These graphics cards are based on l’architecture RDNA 2 d’AMD.
The PS5 Pro also uses a feature named PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) pour improve image clarity and refresh rate.
A presentation lasting 37 minutes was published by Sony. In this video, Cerny addresses several technical aspects of the PS5 Pro and gives moreinformation about the Project Amethyst partnership with AMD.
For now, few details have been revealed on the technology they intend to develop. However, we can expect that it will be at the heart of the next PlayStation and other devices.
According to Cerny, the two companies have two main objectives with Project Amethyst. The first is to develop « a more ideal architecture for Machine Learning ».
In particular, it should enable to exploit convolutional neural networks (CNN) lightweight for game graphics.
The second objective is to develop « a set of high quality neural networks » for the graphics. This collection of architectures and training strategies can be used independently by Sony and AMD.
These components will allowimprove the richness of game graphicsand to use technologies of Ray Tracing and Path Tracing in an extensive way.
A technology planned for the PS6, but also PCs and Cloud Gaming
However, Sony and AMD do not wish to reserve this innovation exclusively on PlayStation. Through this collaboration, the two firms want to deploy Machine Learning on a wide variety of devices.
Their technology can be used on PC, on console or even on the Cloud. She could therefore revolutionize the video game industry in its entirety!
However, Cerny specifies that it is not necessary don’t expect massive hardware announcements immediately. He recalls that creating a console takes about four yearsand that it is possible that the Project Amethyst tech is not not used before PlayStation 6…
Thus, the Machine Learning could be the key to push the graphic limits and allow the emergence of completely realistic games.
At the same time, let us remember that many companies are developing AI capable of generating video games from simple textual descriptions. This is the case of Google Genie 2, Tencent GameGen-O, and the startup World Labs.
In the relatively near future, we can therefore expect that artificial intelligence will be able to transform any idea that comes to mind in one video game with photorealistic graphics. The future looks exciting for gamers!
And you, what do you think? Do you believe in the potential of AI for video games? Are you excited to see Sony and AMD’s Project Amethyst? Share your opinion in comments!
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