OpinionSpeedgate proves AI is coming for all and it is a whole new ball game with machine learning
- Machine learning has played a wider role in sport in recent years with a computer now inventing a brand new game entirely
There was a time when the only AI in sport was Allen Iverson but, much like the Philadelphia 76ers man’s NBA career, those days are long behind us.
Instead, AI, as in artificial intelligence, is making its presence felt as much in the world of sport as it is in the rest of our lives.
Many sports bodies are exploring what AI and machine learning can do for their game, while there is no shortage of tech companies offering up solutions across areas ranging from scouting and analytics to wearable technology, or from the broadcast experience of the fans watching at home to the matchday experience of those in the stadium.
While tracking player and ball movement seems obvious, or the Noahlytics shot arc analysis programme for basketball offers a chance to gain a competitive advantage, there are now solutions to things that no one was aware needed to be improved. Take the reporting of Minor League Baseball. The MiLB now uses natural language generating programme Wordsmith to turn stats and data into match reports that readers would not know were written by a machine.
In golf, the PGA Tour has a number of AI measures in place including its Content Relevancy Engine to assist broadcasters. The CRE is there “to provide real-time statistical trends and storylines relevant to the current action”. Or it does what people used to do manually but a lot faster and without the risk of any mistakes.