Sony is hiring to expand AI use across PlayStation Studios, including character creation, rigging, animation, and testing.
Sony’s AI-powered facial animation tool, Mockingbird, can complete work that previously took hours in a fraction of a second, according to the company’s May 2026 corporate strategy presentation. Sony said Naughty Dog, San Diego Studio, and other PlayStation teams have already adopted the technology, including for released games like Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.
The company has also developed an AI tool that converts videos of real hairstyles into detailed 3D hair models containing hundreds of strands. PlayStation CEO Hideaki Nishino said these technologies are intended to reduce repetitive work without replacing human performers.
Sony illustrated its hair modeling process alongside an image of Aloy from Horizon, although it didn’t identify a released game using that particular tool.
Sony is now recruiting specifically for character tools.
PlayStation Studios wants to expand AI use in character creation and animation
According to a Lead Character Tools Engineer job listing reviewed by The Game Post, Sony is looking for an experienced engineer to join its PlayStation Central Technology team, which focuses on character creation, rigging, and animation. The remote US-based position involves developing and maintaining tools for artists and engineers while working with internal studios and research teams.
The listing says the engineer will help improve traditional game development and runtime workflows, and specifically asks candidates to “seek new opportunities for bringing increased usage of AI and ML” into those processes.
“We are seeking a Lead Character Tools Engineer to join the PlayStation Central Technology team focusing on Character technology from creation, rigging, and animation,” the job listing reads.
“Developing and distributing tools and optimizing for making the best characters in games more efficiently and integrating emergent technology into the future of game making.”
Sony also wants someone experienced with agentic AI models, with the posting mentioning agent-based workflows that can speed up code creation and testing. Using AI agents to write or test programming code is different from having a model generate finished game characters.
“Candidate expected to prototype, create, and collaborate to deploy and maintain technical tools and practices from experience on traditional game development and run-time workflows with internal teams and seek new opportunities for bringing increased usage of AI and ML to make those processes more efficient.
“This internal team of artists, engineers, and technical artists partner with engineering teams, studio stakeholders, research engineers, and other Central Technology groups to provide cohesion and standardization across PSS activities.”
Beyond AI, the position involves character rigging, mesh processing, deformation, simulation, and integration with game engines. Applicants need experience with Autodesk Maya, C++ programming, and as a “technical artist or engineer to develop and deploy tools to support character creation, rigging, simulation, or animation pipelines in a run-time environment.”
Sony says its Central Technology team works with artists, technical artists, researchers, and studio stakeholders to standardize tools and practices across PlayStation Studios. A character tool developed centrally could eventually be used by multiple teams rather than being limited to a single project.
The listing doesn’t identify any new AI models or specify which PlayStation Studios will adopt future tools. It also doesn’t mention Mockingbird directly, so there’s no confirmation that the position is connected to that existing technology.
Sony has already shown how AI can shorten certain animation tasks. The bigger question now is how much further the company wants to take that approach, and whether the next tools will give artists more control over their work.
What do you think about Sony expanding its use of AI in character creation and animation across PlayStation Studios? Let us know in the comments.
