The 2024 Summer Olympics, which begin on July 26 in Paris, can be novel not only due to first-time inclusion of breakdancing. The event may even be the primary edition of the quadrennial sporting festival for the reason that International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced its Olympic AI Agenda.
You could also be wondering why the Olympic Games – founded in 1896 in reference to the famous sporting competition of ancient Greece – need an “AI agenda.” How can computers help the human body grow taller, faster and stronger?
The answer, based on the IOC, is so much. The committee's far-reaching agenda envisions a world wherein AI systems help athletes achieve peak performance, ensure fair play, optimize the running of events and transform the spectator experience.
The goal, so IOC President Thomas Bachis to “set the course for the AI way forward for sport with responsible leadership, embracing change while preserving the Olympic values”.
Discovering talent, training athletes, rehabilitating injuries
Most of the measures envisaged by the IOC are quite specific to sport, but some are AI applications that could possibly be utilized by organizations in lots of sectors.
The most significant sports-related applications of AI include those who give attention to individual athletes. By evaluating huge data sets based on performance, physical characteristics and skills, AI systems can facilitate talent identification. These systems could possibly be deployed at scale and discover individuals who’re currently neglected.
AI could also help to show talented people into world-class athletes. We are already seeing AI systems designed to help coaches by personalized training plans.
Optimizing training and uncovering hidden patterns within the behavior of people or groups of athletes is one other promising application of AI models. Coaches can use these models to repeatedly adapt training strategies through feedback.
AI training systems will be more inexpensive and more accessible than traditional coaching. There are also AI tools that may analyze videos of movements like a tennis swing in real time and supply feedback – and a few of them need no more equipment than a smartphone.
Organizations akin to Swimming Australia are already using AI tools to interpret athlete data in natural language.
AI-supported tools are also changing injury prevention and rehabilitationBy analyzing biomechanical data, training protocols and medical records, AI can discover injury risk aspects and supply personalized recommendations to stop them.
For example, AI models can analyze an athlete's movement patterns to discover imbalances and suggest targeted exercises and corrective techniques to cut back the chance of injury and improve recovery. Research also shows that AI technologies can discover knee injuries with comparable accuracy to doctors, potentially reducing the necessity for specialists.
Referees and judges
The IOC can also be convinced that AI can even help make sport fairer.
Technological aids for umpires are nothing recent. Think of cricket Decision review systemthe NRL bunkerand electronic telephone lines in tennisThe “semi-automatic” offside on the FIFA World Cup technology uses AI.
FIFA
AI scoring can also be utilized in gymnastics. For casual viewers, it might be obscure why one gymnast receives the next rating than one other.
To make the assessment more transparent, Assessment support system was used on all apparatus on the 2023 World Championships. This AI-based tool adapts the gymnasts’ movements strictly to the rule book and will transform the game more accessible to viewers.
Viewing experience
New technologies and digital innovations are also making the Olympic Games more accessible to fans.
During the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (which is able to actually not happen until 2021 on account of the COVID pandemic) digital engagement doubled in comparison with the 2016 Rio Games, with Australia being one in every of the leading countries in digital content consumption.
A recent survey found that Australian audiences are generally against AI-produced political news, but are more open to AI-generated sports content.
More current research results from IBM 55% of tennis fans surveyed globally consider AI can have a positive impact on the game. This attitude reflects a growing acceptance of AI's role in improving the fan experience.
The IOC wants to make use of AI to create “more personalized fan experiences,” but we don’t yet know exactly what those will appear to be.
Improving efficiency
Beyond the game itself, AI can also be getting used to extend efficiency, reduce costs and improve the sustainability of the Olympic Games. This applies, for instance, to Optimization of transportStaff training, logistics and ticket sales.
The IOC plans to share lessons learned from this 12 months's Games with other sports organizers to assist them create more exciting and cost-effective events.
AI technology is getting used to guard athletes and officials from social media abuse. Half a billion social media comments are expected to be monitored in the course of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Offensive posts can be routinely deleted to guard the athletes.
Change or be modified
In sport, as in the remainder of society, it would be crucial to determine guidelines for the protected and responsible implementation of AI. An necessary first step is to make sure Data transmitted to AI systems is protected, accurate, fair and inclusive.
In 2014, the IOC launched a reform program for a rapidly changing world with the motto “Change or be modified.” With the rapid advancement of AI technologies in recent times, this imperative has taken on recent urgency.
As we've seen, AI is on the rise at this 12 months's Games, and we will expect to see much more of it on the Los Angeles Games in 2028 and the Games planned for Brisbane in 2032. Are we able to embrace it?
