Generative AI technology now being used for sports play-by-play commentary. Here's how it works
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Companies are now experimenting with sports commentating done by artificial intelligence as one potential use of the technology in the world of sports.
ABC7 reporter J.R. Stone recently got an inside look at IBM's ping-pong with Generative AI to track your playing ability. It was on display at Dreamforce 2024 in San Francisco.
The same technology was used at Wimbledon and the US Open.
"This is the first year where we've brought in the Generative AI component where you actually have match commentary based off of all of the data that is being captured and then match summaries as well," said IBM's Nick Otto.
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That data includes things like average ball and swing speed, along with forehand and backhand shots.
To put it to the test, Stone went head-to-head in ping-pong versus Otto, who ended up winning 11-7.
The AI came up with a summary that said:
"Nick's arm must have felt like a whirlwind, spinning the ball at an average speed of 8.45 mph. J.R. tried to keep up but his 30 forehand shots and 5.56 mph swing speed were no match."
UCLA Professor Ramesh Srinivasan believes we need to use caution with this type of technology to make sure that humans are still benefiting.
"This is both incredibly exciting and amazing and also concerning because what this means for actual journalists, what this means for human commentators," Srinivasan said.
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Recently at the US Open,AI commentators were used for smaller matches. Otto says the AI didn't take any human commentators jobs.
"But there's not announcers for all those matches so we actually did generate and we were the only announcer for a lot of the matches," Otto said.
While the ping-pong setup only had a written review, the idea of the AI system gaining all that knowledge in real, or close to real time, could be a precurser as to what will come next.
Those from IBM say their Generative AI system is also being used to gather data for the human commentators who now have some very detailed stats in new categories that hadn't previously been tracked.
