Sony Wants PlayStation Consoles to Fix Themselves with AI in Ambitious New Patent

Tech companies usually file patents for many products ideas, features, and in-house experimental tech that they might be working on. So, its not unsual to see some ambitious plan in patents. Well, one appears to have been filed by Sony, which if turns out to be a feature someday your PlayStation consoles may spend less time showing cryptic error messages and more time fixing them. Yes, you read that right.

Sony’s AI could diagnose problems before users need support

Folks at TweakTown spotted a patent filing on Patentlyze by Sony, in which the company has described an AI-powered system that could detect software issues on connected devices, create a diagnostic tool for the specific issue and potentially deploy a fix without waiting for a human engineer.

The patent describes a cloud-based system that keeps an eye on connected Sony hardware and identifies potential software issues. When something goes wrong, a large language model could generate a diagnostic program designed around that particular problem.

That program could then be used to investigate the issue and, depending on the situation, allow the system to automatically apply a fix. Issues that can’t be handled automatically could instead be recorded and sent to engineers for further investigation.

And PlayStation isn’t the only target here. The patent covers Sony’s wider consumer electronics ecosystem, with TVs, cameras and headphones also mentioned as potential devices. If Sony ever turns the idea into a real feature, it could eventually reduce the number of situations where users have to dig through support pages or wait for a software update to resolve an annoying problem.

An AI fixing console software comes with a big catch

Giving an AI system the ability to generate diagnostic code and push software fixes to consumer devices would require serious safeguards, especially if the changes affect firmware or other low-level components. The patent itself does not mean Sony is preparing to launch such a system. According to the report, the filing has already faced a USPTO examiner rejection, which means there is no guarantee the patent will be granted in its current form.

Sony has also filed plenty of unusual patents over the years that never became consumer products. In fact, earlier this year, the company filed a patent for PlayStation controller that grips and releases your fingers mid-game. Speaking of AI, Sony also filed a patent for AI-generated podcasts voiced by PlayStation game characters.