Sony patents AI frame generation that predicts future PlayStation frames

Sony Interactive Entertainment has been granted a patent for a frame generation method designed to reduce input lag, one of the main drawbacks of the technique in video games. The document, titled "Generation Super Sampling" and published on October 15, 2026, describes using AI to predict image frames before the game engine has rendered them.

Existing approaches such as NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR frame generation insert AI-made frames between two frames the graphics card has already produced. Because the system must wait for the second real frame, a higher on-screen frame rate does not mean the game reacts faster to the player. Tools like NVIDIA Reflex reduce the delay but cannot remove it entirely.

Encoder, decoder and controller input

Sony's method instead analyses previous frames to forecast the next one, so there is no need to wait for the following real frame. It relies on two neural networks: an encoder that compresses the engine's output into a compact representation of the scene, and a decoder that uses that representation to build the predicted frame.

The patent says motion vectors and controller commands can also feed the prediction. If a player presses jump, for instance, the system can factor in that input to anticipate the character's next animation frames. Relevant inputs may have been made within a 15-millisecond window or less than two seconds earlier, according to the filing. During training, predicted frames are compared with real ones and the network's parameters are adjusted based on the difference.

The filing also covers generating several future frames and displaying them before the engine finishes the next real frame. It additionally outlines a non-neural alternative, called Algorithmic Frame Generation, that builds synthetic frames from motion vectors and previously rendered frames.

Open questions

The idea resembles rollback netcode used in fighting games such as Street Fighter 6, which guesses players' next moves and corrects the game state when needed. Wrong guesses, however, could cause visual artefacts in fast-paced shooters and action games with rapid motion or sudden camera changes.

The patent includes no measured latency or image quality results from real games, and it lists no special hardware absent from current systems. That does not confirm the technique will reach PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 5 Pro. Sony has not said which consoles might use it, when, or whether it will become a commercial feature at all.