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It seems YouTube channels promoting a controversial AI-powered machine-learning cheat on consoles are being shuttered.
According to the Anti-Cheat Police Department (via VGC), publisher Activision is allegedly responsible for shutting down channels posting videos of the cheat on YouTube. ACPD said Activision may “make plans to take [the cheat] down.”
We’ve reached out to Activision for comment and will update if we hear back.
The cheat uses a capture card to bypass a console’s security, analyzing and detecting enemies whenever they enter the field. The only requirement on the player’s part to activate the cheat, is to aim to aim in the general direction of an enemy. The tool will do the rest, determining the precise location and shots required to kill a target. A promotional video illustrates how the cheat can be used.
The ACPD said the cheat is like an “aim assist but more amplified.” The group also said these types of cheats will be hard for developers to detect. When reached for comment, the ACPD explained that the cheat isn’t too sophisticated, with this type of exploit already existing on PC in other games.
“The reason why it’s good is that it brought the attention of the company, and it made them concerned enough to tackle the situation,” the group said in a Twitter direct message. “This is by far not a sophisticated cheat at all. This type of cheat exists on PC as well and is detected by anti-cheat on PC on the regular. They are not super effective but having one on console is effective and could be a challenge to detect but not something impossible by any means.”
The ACPD said there are ways developers can stamp the cheat out, like implementing a HardwareID driver to determine trusted inputs and punish those using untrusted exploits and peripherals.
“It isn’t hard really to make it simple [sic],” the ACPD said. “They have to find a way to detect input that is not from the controller itself which is something they can fix and detect. So probably in the next [PlayStation] or [Xbox] update there would be a trusted HardwareID added to combat this cheat since these are untrusted inputs being sent to the controller and to the console. All they have to do is kick out those untrusted inputs and they will break this cheat fairly easily. “It is really depending on the developers and the technical challenges it brings to them.”
Cheating is popular in games like Fortnite but especially in Call of Duty titles like Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. Activision has banned as over 500,000 accounts from the battle royale shooter for cheating, abuse, and fraud.
