Artificial intelligence bots blamed for unforgiveable error Wimbledon organisers made with Aussie star Alex de Minaur
- Australian star hopes for deep run at Grand Slam
- Website made a critical error about its country of origin
- Fans are furious about the use of AI, which has generated a number of errors
Wimbledon has faced criticism over errors on its official website, with fans accusing the organisers of using AI to generate official content during the tournament.
The prestigious tournament has been plagued by a series of errors, which revealed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to produce some of the website content.
Wimbledon organizers used the generative AI platform IBM WatsonX to create content for their website during the tournament.
This decision backfired, as fans discovered numerous errors.
One notable error was that Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur was listed as being from the United Kingdom.
The sporting rivalry between England and Australia, rooted in cricket and rugby, exacerbated the scale of the errors made by AI bots.
Fans were also surprised by other inaccuracies, such as former US Open champion Emma Raducanu being incorrectly listed as Britain’s No. 1 player when she was the fourth-best British woman in the WTA rankings.
Other mistakes included labelling 35-year-old Zhang Shuai and 27-year-old Daria Kasatkina as “newcomers”.
These inaccuracies, attributed to AI, have been criticized by the public.
Alex de Minaur has French ancestors, but is about as British as Vegemite
Australians were furious when AI wrote that Australian star Alex de Minaur was from the UK
The website also incorrectly stated that Emma Raducanu was the British number 1
Prominent tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg vented his frustration on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating: “Frankly insulting that the richest tennis tournament in the world is outsourcing writing to crappy AI.”
“Apparently AI is striking again. There have been so many mistakes in tennis. My question is: why do you let an AI take over without someone checking all the items?” asked one tennis fan.
This comes after Wimbledon used AI for commentary in 2023, a decision that was scrapped for the 2024 tournament.
Wimbledon has not yet officially responded to the public criticism.
However, organizers are also using AI to combat online abuse and protect female players.
The tournament organizers have a special research team that uses the AI service Threat Matrix to check content on platforms such as X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok for malicious messages.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is warning of the increasing number of female stars falling victim to online bullying and is calling on social media platforms to improve safety measures.
Alex de Minaur is preparing for his match against the world number 212, the Frenchman Lucas Pouille. If he succeeds, he can face the number 2, Novak Djokovic, in the quarterfinals.
Read more: Nick Kyrgios begs Wimbledon commentator not to discuss one of his legal dramas on TV >
