Sony Says FUDGE Age Restrictions With New AI Censorship Patent

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Sony Says FUDGE Age Restrictions With New AI Censorship Patent

https://retrohandhelds.gg/sony-says-fudge-age-restrictions-with-new-ai-censorship-patent/

Sony’s got a bold (and slightly creepy) new idea: AI that turns God of War into Toy Story on the fly.

Imagine playing a violent game, and suddenly your blood-splattered assassin gets replaced with a cheerful cartoon version—because the AI decided “too much gore.” No manual edits. No developer input. Just a silent, algorithmic babysitter scrubbing your game clean in real time.

The patent? It’s wild. The system can blur violence, mute swearing, swap weapons for glitter bats, and even reanimate characters to be less “intense.” Parents could pick presets—or craft custom rules—so one copy of Red Dead Redemption becomes kid-safe for your 8-year-old, while you keep the full-blooded experience. Convenient? Maybe. Dangerous? Absolutely.

This isn’t just parental controls—it’s editing art without asking the artist. What happens when an AI decides a character’s backstory is “too mature”? Or removes political themes because they’re “controversial”? And if this rolls out on cloud platforms? Suddenly, every streamer and subscriber is subject to invisible censorship—no way to know what’s been cut.

Sony isn’t building a filter. They’re building an editor-in-chief for games we don’t own anymore.

The tech might be cool. But who gets to decide what’s “appropriate”? We should all be nervous.