星空传媒

Skip to main content

Olympic organizers unveil strategy for using artificial intelligence in sports

Thomas Bach, IOC President speaks at the International Olympic Committee launch of the Olympic AI Agenda at Lee Valley VeloPark, in London, Friday, April 19, 2024.(Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP Photo) Thomas Bach, IOC President speaks at the International Olympic Committee launch of the Olympic AI Agenda at Lee Valley VeloPark, in London, Friday, April 19, 2024.(Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP Photo)
Share
LONDON -

Olympic organizers unveiled their strategy Friday to use artificial intelligence in sports, joining the global rush to capitalize on the rapidly advancing technology.

The International Olympic Committee outlined its agenda for taking advantage of AI. Officials said it could be used to help identify promising athletes, personalize training methods and make the games fairer by improving judging.

鈥淭oday we are making another step to ensure the uniqueness of the Olympic Games and the relevance of sport. To do this, we have to be leaders of change,鈥 IOC President Thomas Bach said at a press event in the velodrome at the Olympic Park in London, which hosted the summer games in 2012.

"We are determined to exploit the vast potential of AI in a responsible way,鈥 Bach said.

The IOC revealed its AI master plan as it gears up to hold the Paris Olympics, which are set to kick off in just under 100 days.

The IOC's AI plans also include using the technology to protect athletes from online harassment and to help broadcasters improve the viewing experience for people watching from home. The IOC earns billions of dollars through the sale of broadcast rights for the games.

Some AI projects will be rolled out at the Paris games and the IOC has set up a working group on the technology to further drive its adoption in sport, Bach said, without being more specific.

The local organizers of the Paris games have sparked controversy with their plans to use artificial intelligence for security, with a video surveillance system that includes AI-powered cameras to flag potential security risks such as abandoned packages or crowd surges. Digital watchdog groups fear that a proposal to legalize smart surveillance systems, even if only temporarily, will infringe on privacy, though the French government insists the systems won't use facial recognition technology.

Asked about the concerns, Bach told reporters it's up to the authorities in the host country, not the IOC, to decide on 鈥漷he best tools to apply to secure the games."

鈥淲hat we have seen from the French government and from the authorities is that the efforts to ensure security in Paris are really, on a very wide scope, very professional. So we have all confidence in the French authorities,鈥 he said.

Skier Lindsey Vonn said she was envious of the AI-powered tools that weren't available when she was starting out.

Vonn said back in the day she took notes by hand in her performance diary on how different skis, boots and the temperature affected her performance. Nowadays, tablets are used to instantly crunch much more data, as well as give a side-by-side video comparison of the best racing line. AI can supercharge those analytical tools, she said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not replacing athletes, it鈥檚 not replacing coaching. But I think it鈥檚 just another tool that can be used in a positive way to perform better,鈥 Vonn said.

The IOC has partnered with Intel to scout out potential athletes in overlooked places. The tech company took its equipment to Senegal, where they visited five villages and analyzed the athletic ability of a thousand children, by measuring how high they could jump and how fast they could react.

Using AI to analyze the results, "we found 40 that are really promising," said Christoph Schell, Intel's chief commercial officer.

The shortlisted kids' results were then run through an algorithm that recommended what sports they'd be good at, he said.

Olympic officials are also aware of AI risks. Bach warned against allowing machines to be the ultimate arbiter of a young athlete's career. Someone who's a 鈥済reat athlete in wrestling must still have the chance to play tennis and cannot be sorted out鈥 by the algorithms, he said.

AP videojournalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this report. 

CTVNews.ca 星空传媒

BREAKING

BREAKING

Three men were injured after a man armed with a knife entered a Montreal-area Islamic cultural centre Friday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

The parents of a teenager who died after allegedly consuming the poisonous products of a Mississauga man are now suing him, as well as several doctors involved in her care.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Stay Connected