At the start of the 2024 Olympic Games, the best athletes in the world will walk under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, float down the Seine, and compete in the 33rd edition of the iconic competition. Supporting their push for the podium, which is in the capable hands of coaches, players, and spectators alike, is a more contemporary player: artificial intelligence.
In order to investigate the enormous potential of artificial intelligence (AI) while minimizing risks, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released its “Olympic AI Agenda” earlier this year. Among the future-focused objectives outlined in the agenda are talent identification, game optimization, and “reduction of human bias.” In Paris, several of those are being tested for the first time.
As the event’s 5G, Process, and AI platform partner, Intel has been an Olympic partner since 2017. The latter title will be more important than ever during the 2024 Olympics. To support the IOC’s goal of integrating AI into sports, the company has been expanding its range of hardware and software products for the past five years.
Head of Intel’s Olympic and Paralympic program Sarah Vickers told Mashable that she thinks AI will have the most influence on the Olympics in areas like fan experience, data-hungry broadcasting, and event operations.
Outside of the company’s on-the-ground AI Lab in Paris, Vickers stated that the Olympic ecosystem has had a difficult couple of years. All of the dynamics of the classic games are back, if you think about it. There are many people moving around, there are spectators in the stands, and there are numerous operational difficulties. The other point is that athletes’ and users’ expectations have evolved. They are accustomed to having instant access to information. We have the ideal opportunity to showcase how AI is being used everywhere.
Other companies are using AI to help athletes achieve their goals, not only Intel. NBCUniversal, Google, and Team USA established an official collaboration on Monday, designating the tech giant as Team USA’s “Official Search AI Partner.” The agreement will combine user Olympic searches, game explanations, live NBC coverage, and Google’s AI capabilities.
At a time when the tech sector is experiencing rapid expansion, the IOC is stepping up its use of AI in an effort to boost viewership and, more subtly, save expenses. However, even they must take into account the broader effects of AI. Ilario Corna, the Chief Information Technology Officer of the IOC, stated in an interview with Vickers on Intel’s Technically Speaking podcast that the organization is considering innovations and trust equally, which could soon entail creating their own “OlympicGPT.”
Many of the biggest swings in the game may remain hidden from the public eye as the IOC and its partners embrace AI, working behind the scenes at the most significant sporting event in history.
AI is assisting in the competition’s digitization
For many years, Intel has been at the forefront of the gaming industry’s expanding technological advancements. One such example is the 2022 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, which included hundreds of Intel Premium drones. In those games, artificial intelligence platforms also made their debut. However, the Paris Games will mark the large-scale implementation of several of Intel’s technologies.
For instance, generative AI will debut in the hands of athletes through the Athlete365 app during the Games, far from spectators. With the use of Intel’s Gaudi 2 generative AI platform, a brand-new IOC Assistant Chatbot can respond to participant queries on matches and regulations. A safer atmosphere for athletes is being created, meantime, with the application of machine learning. The IOC and Intel are praising new AI-powered technology that can identify online harassment and cyberabuse directed at athletes by online hecklers. Simon Biles’ candid discussions on mental health after the 2020 Olympics brought attention to this problem.
Competition digitization is aided by AI
The following could change your life, American skier Lindsey Vonn warned guests at the IOC’s AI Agenda launch: The ability of AI to remove these remarks instantly and assist in person prosecutions is a big development. He believes that will alter the dynamics of social media.
The IOC’s more extensive AI goals include providing anti-doping groups with platform support and educating athletes about health, safety, and technology. Corna clarified that in addition to what many believe could be medal-winning coaching and training assistance as well as improved judging, Intel’s computer vision and other data visualization technology will also provide teams with individualized analysis of performance that can develop better, safer recovery plans and even predict potential injuries.
AI is figuring out how to improve the games’ accessibility
In addition, guests and athletes with disabilities are benefiting from the assistance of AI and AR. With the use of its OpenVINO technology and on-site LiDAR devices, Intel has introduced new wayfinding technology that enables blind or low-vision individuals to get turn-by-turn, real-time indoor navigation. It is founded on an ongoing collaboration between GoodMaps and Intel for indoor navigation. Athletes at the Paralympic Games are assisted by the same range of Intel AI technology that is used at the Olympic Games. Vickers and others anticipate future opportunities for AI support in areas like accessibility requirements and quick on-site translation.
AI-supported scouting is currently being utilized to level the playing field for athletes aspiring to the Olympics. The system, called 3D Athlete Tracking, or 3DAT, gathers athlete computer vision data, processes it on Intel’s AI platform, and generates 3D biomechanical reports. Athletes in Senegal are among the regions where the IOC has tested this, because to historical financing and resource shortages.
As stated by the IOC in the publication of this year’s AI Agenda, the potential applications of AI in sport provide a revolutionary opportunity for sport’s worldwide accessibility.
AI is guiding the Olympics toward a data-driven future
AI advancements are bringing the Olympics on pace with other sectors. Vickers highlighted the use of AI to produce highly personalized highlight reels, which are selected and edited together depending on viewer preferences and interests, as one of the most important ways AI will improve gaming. That’s because it will reduce speed and access concerns, particularly for broadcasters, while also appealing to AI proponents’ rising need for personalization.
There’s also industry-changing potential here. Intel’s Deep Learning Boost is powering the Olympics’ first end-to-end 8K live streaming experience for internet viewers, as well as providing reporters and broadcast teams with real-time access to massive data sets. Meanwhile, Intel’s volumetric capture technology is transforming how athletes will appear on screens in the future.
Intel is powering a 360-degree 3D image producing studio in the athlete Olympic village that can scan athletes’ likenesses and produce 3D replicas of themselves – it’s a fun AI-powered gag for athletes to send home, but it’s also the most likely method we’ll interact with holograms on live TV.
The AI experience has little effect on what is most important about the games: the athletes themselves.
Sarah Vickers added that the athlete will be captured in a 3D studio and then sent anywhere in the world. It could be a virtual broadcast studio in the United States, India, or elsewhere in the world. And it will appear that the athlete is on stage with the host. It will appear as if they are standing next to each other.
The IOC sees digital advancements like these as cost-cutting moves to make the game and its athletes more accessible to all, while also reducing its “broadcast footprint,” or the environmental impacts of large-scale live broadcasting. Of course, this ignores AI’s hotly debated environmental impact.
The new Team USA and Google cooperation will see Olympic information linked into the search platform’s new AI Overviews and generative AI assistant, Google Gemini, as spectators watch medal counts. Gemini will be used by actor and “Chief Superfan Commentator” Leslie Jones when she anchors NBC’s Peacock coverage of the games.
In other respects as well, the Olympic commentator heritage is being enriched by the widespread use of AI assistants that resemble people. As of last month, Peacock users can get personalized 10-minute Olympic updates from NBC, which are presented in the well-known sportscaster Al Michaels’ AI voice. Viewers don’t need to fear in the era of nonconsensual deep fakes, as NBC reiterated in a subsequent press briefing: Michaels granted complete consent for the use of his voice and likeness.
AI is also employed before to, during, and following the games’ operation. Olympic venues are now represented by new, incredibly detailed 3D models, or “Digital Twins,” that let teams, broadcasters, and event coordinators to arrange their entire coverage schedule or just explore the games in advance. For guests and logistic coordinators thinking about accessibility, this can help to visualize possible navigational obstacles. Vickers suggested that in the future, there could be a model for making real-time changes for people with disabilities.
Not to be outdone, artificial intelligence is also enabling the digitalization of Olympic archives, ensuring that the games’ artifacts will always remain preserved in virtual repositories.
According to Vickers, the athletes remain at the center of the games, and the AI experience does not alter that. The enjoyment of the sport will not be diminished despite their efforts to enhance everyone’s experience, including spectators and athletes alike. That will only improve things.
More security and privacy concerns are brought up by AI’s Olympic efforts
However, worries concerning the games’ AI integration still exist. As the Olympic stage grows bigger and bigger, the French government has announced its intentions to leverage AI technology from the private sector to “conduct pervasive and persistent surveillance before, during, and after the Games,” according to FastCompany. The French Prime Minister’s office secured an order in April that gave the government more power to wiretap, gather communications, computer, and geographical data, and confiscate even more audio and visual information from citizens. This completes the implementation of an extensive, experimental video surveillance system that flags possible security threats using cameras driven by AI.
Privacy groups expressed concern about such widespread surveillance, as well as digital security issues, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Vickers claims that the French government’s AI intentions do not coincide with what is going on inside the games. According to her, Intel’s Responsible AI team is navigating a world of data privacy rules and internal security to maintain their systems controversy-free while collaborating with the Olympic planning committee.
The numerous investments in the Paris games demonstrate that AI is all around us. Vickers agreed that it’s everywhere. But the athletes are at the heart of what they do, and that will not change.
