Technologies

Sony AI outraces humans in Gran Turismo car racing game

Using a bank of 1,000 PlayStation 4 consoles as a virtual training ground, Sony taught an artificial intelligence system to outplay the best humans.

Over the last two years, Sony AI trained a computer system to play Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo Sport, a popular and realistic car racing game, and beat some of the world’s best human competitors, Sony said on Wednesday.

The AI, named GT Sophy, defeated top humans only in time trials when there were no other cars on the track during a July competition. But by October, GT Sophy beat the humans even with a scrum of virtual race cars.

GT Sophy is the latest experiment demonstrating that AI can be victorious at games such as chess and Go, which were long thought to be the domain of human intelligence. AI has also beaten people at classic Atari video games and the Starcraft real-time strategy game.

AI today generally refers to a process for programming computers using a technology known as neural networks, which mimic the way human brains work. Sony’s achievement is notable enough to warrant a research paper in the prestigious journal Nature.

A car racing video game, like Gran Turismo, presents open-ended tactical choices as well as simulated rules of physics. GT Sophy picked new ways to approach them, one of the human competitors said.

«The AI drives in a way that we would never have come up with,» said Takuma Miyazono, who won three challenges in the FIA Gran Turismo 2020 World Finals, speaking in a video. He said GT Sophy’s tactics made sense when he saw it drive.

Many AI systems are trained with real-world data through a system called deep learning that gives them the ability to recognize faces and to spot spam. GT Sophy used a different technique called reinforcement learning that starts with an entirely untrained system that has no idea what to do. It raced courses over and over again, following a human-designed reward system that encouraged better results and eventually mastered the game.

One particular difficulty was figuring out the unwritten rules of car racing, such as avoiding collisions and not inappropriately cutting off other drivers.

«We all underestimated how hard it would be to get the sportsmanship side right,» said Sony AI Director Peter Wurman in the video. «To do that without being overly aggressive or overly timid in the face of competitors.»

Sony AI ran simulations on computers connected to a bank of more than 1,000 PlayStation 4 game consoles.

As is common in AI, Sony trained its versions of Sophy GT using fast graphics chips. To run the simulations, it used computers with conventional processors.

Technologies

Resident Evil Requiem: Release Date, Leon Kennedy’s Return Confirmed and More

The return to Raccoon City is going to be just as scary as you could have imagined.

The Game Awards on Thursday revealed new games such as Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic and Control Resonant, but one of the biggest games shown was already revealed earlier in the year. Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth entry in the main Resident Evil series and takes players back to where the games started while seeing the return of a fan-favorite character.

A new trailer for Resident Evil Requiem finally reveals the antagonist of the game and confirms that Leon Kennedy is back, though it’s unclear what he’s been doing since Resident Evil 6. Also shown in the footage was Victor Gideon, a former doctor who looks like he’s been experimenting on people — and himself — as he intimidates the other main character players will control, Grace Ashcroft.

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Resident Evil Requiem made its debut during the Summer Games Fest in June, and developer Capcom slowly released details about the upcoming horror game. What’s clear from the previously released footage and impressions is that Capcom really wants to terrify players — and it’ll go so far as to put players in Grace’s shoes without weapons.

When does Resident Evil Requiem come out?

Resident Evil Requiem will be released on Feb. 27, 2026, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles.

When does Resident Evil Requiem take place?

Resident Evil Requiem takes place 30 years after the events of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, which was when Raccoon City was destroyed.

How will Resident Evil Requiem play?

After the trailer was shown, Game Awards host Geoff Keighley said Leon would bring «action-heavy gameplay» and that the game would offer two different experiences. This could mean that a good chunk of the game will be played as Grace, who will provide more of a survival-horror experience with fewer weapons and tools, while a portion of the game will be focused on Leon and his more chainsaw-wielding, kicking-in-the-face style of gameplay.

Read more: I Played Resident Evil 9 Requiem at Summer Game Fest, and It’s Extremely Messed Up

Who is Grace Ashcroft?

Grace Ashcroft is an FBI analyst who has a connection with Raccoon City. Her mother, Alyssa, was a survivor of the destruction of Raccoon City and was a playable character in the online game Resident Evil Outbreak, released on the PS2 in 2003. The elder Ashcroft was a reporter who told the story of what happened to the zombie-infested city, but was killed by a masked assailant in 2018.

Her murder spurred Grace to join the FBI. In Requiem, a mysterious infection is spreading, and deaths are mounting. Grace is assigned to investigate the Wrenwood Hotel, the place where the latest fatality has occurred, and which was the site of her mother’s murder. It’s from here that she’ll make her way to Raccoon City.

Where has Leon Kennedy been?

Leon was last seen in the series with Resident Evil 6, but he’s been active in the Resident Evil animated movies and series, including Resident Evil: Degeneration, Resident Evil: Damnation, Resident Evil: Vendetta, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness and Resident Evil: Death Island. Leon is currently an agent for the Division of Security Operations and is deployed worldwide to investigate instances of bioweapons causing havoc, which often leads to reunions with other Resident Evil survivors, such as Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers.

Are there any other characters set to be revealed?

A GameStop listing for Resident Evil Requiem listed the Expansion Pass for the game and the additional scenarios, according to a report from Videogame Chronicles on Tuesday. One scenario referred to a Shadow Walker Costume Pack, which includes outfits for Rosemary Winters, the daughter of Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village hero Ethan Winters. Rosemary was the main character of Shadows of Rose, a postrelease content scenario for Resident Evil Village.

There could be additional characters revealed in the coming days as Resident Evil Requiem’s release date nears.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 13, #446

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 13, No. 446.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. The purple category wants you to look inside of different words and see if you recognize other related words. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Get your racket.

Green group hint: Football, February to September.

Blue group hint: College gridiron stars.

Purple group hint: Look for hidden teams.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Scoring in tennis.

Green group: NFL offseason events.

Blue group: Heisman Trophy finalists.

Purple group: Starts with an NFL team in singular form.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is scoring in tennis. The four answers are 15, 30, 40 and deuce.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is NFL offseason events. The four answers are combine, draft, OTAs and training camp.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Heisman Trophy finalists. The four answers are Love, Mendoza, Pavia and Sayin.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is starts with an NFL team in singular form. The four answers are beard, billboard, brownie and jettison.

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Technologies

Google Turns Ordinary Headphones Into Instant Language Interpreters

Google is rolling out a beta version of the Translate app with support for more than 70 languages.

Google is taking on Apple’s Live Translation feature with its own live speech-to-speech translations, and Google’s version doesn’t require a specific set of headphones.

The new Translate app, currently rolling out in beta, provides you with real-time translation in your preferred language when you tap «Live Translate.» The function, now usable on any headset, was only previously available on Pixel Buds.

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The Translate Android app update is rolling out in the US, Mexico and India, and it supports more than 70 languages. The company says it will bring the feature to iOS, and more countries, in 2026.

In addition, the company announced it was improving translation quality using Gemini, Google’s AI model, and said that idioms, in particular, were no longer literal translations, but more contextual. Google said that it was also expanding the language learning tools with more feedback and daily challenges.

Meanwhile, as part of iOS 26, Apple recently introduced Live Translation, but the live audio version is currently limited to use with the AirPods Pro or AirPods 4.