Sony has just released a new video, hosted by PlayStation's lead system architect, Mark Cerny.

Speaking in his ever-calming dulcet tones, Cerny's video is basically a deep dive into the technical side of PS5 Pro, explaining how the new console ticks.

It's a very interesting video if you're into the techy hardware side of things, but a segment towards the end of the presentation is perhaps most worthy of note.

Cerny reveals that PlayStation and AMD are partnering on a new project called Amethyst, which will see the companies collaborating on two goals centred around machine learning.

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"The first goal is a more ideal architecture for machine learning — something capable of generalised processing of neural networks," Cerny says. He continues, explaining they're working towards a "democratisation" of machine learning, providing developers with the means to utilise it for graphics and gameplay.

The second goal is to create "a set of high quality CNNs (convolutional neural networks) for game graphics", which should be "key in increasing the richness of game graphics, as well as enabling more extensive use of ray tracing and path tracing", Cerny says.

Given the extent of this "multi-year" collaboration, this effectively confirms the PS6 will feature AMD hardware — which lines up with leaked information that came up a little while ago.

It's worth listening to Cerny talking about all of this himself; he begins talking about this project at roughly 35 minutes in.

Top dogs from several publishers, including Sony, have spoken about the potential benefits of using AI in game development, so it comes as no real surprise to hear that it'll be integrated at the system in some form or another. We're not entirely sure what it all means, to be honest, but we've no doubt more information will come our way as we edge ever closer to PlayStation's next console iteration.

[source blog.playstation.com]