Google and NBC use AI to try to make landing at Paris Olympics a success
Google is bringing some artificial intelligence features to your Olympic experience thanks to a deal with NBCUniversal and Team USA. The Paris Olympics and Paralympics will use Google’s Gemini AI models to improve the way people watch the events on TV and online.
The most public aspect of the deal will see NBC commentators demonstrate Google Search’s AI Overviews feature during their coverage, sharing quick hits and more detailed information about various sports, athletes and Olympic rules. Google hopes to highlight how AI Overviews can answer questions in a single search (though presumably without the discus-eating suggestions).
Specifically, SNL alumna and NBC’s “chief superfan commentator” Leslie Jones will use Google’s Gemini AI to watch the Games and learn about new sports in real time. The AI Overviews will also be accessible on NBC’s social media channels. NBC wants the AI to improve accessibility and engagement for Olympic viewers who might otherwise find some aspects of the events incomprehensible.
Twin Olympic Games
Google’s AI plans can be seen as the flip side of the coin to how Intel is embedding AI tools into the athlete experience, with an Olympic chatbot to help them navigate the Olympic Village and surrounding area. For those attending in person, Intel and Samsung have worked together to produce an AI-powered identification tool to spot and tag athletes on the field. Intel also has its own broadcast initiative, with Intel AI producing highlights for each event.
Additionally, there will be a new feature called “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” which will offer custom-curated highlights of three select sports each day. But the clips will be narrated by a generative AI version of announcer Al Michaels, who gave permission for his voice to be used in this way.
Google’s partnership will also connect Gemini to its other platforms to broaden coverage of the Olympics. Olympians and Paralympians will be encouraged to use features like Google Lens, Circle to Search, Immersive View in Google Maps and Gemini to explore Paris and share their experiences on NBC’s social media channels. Google clearly sees the Olympics and its deal with NBC as a great way to promote Gemini and potentially drive global interest in its AI products.
“Our partnership with Team USA and NBCUniversal during the Olympic and Paralympic Games provides a great platform to showcase how Google’s helpful everyday products, like Google Search and Google Maps, and newer innovations like Gemini, are using AI to help fans explore, learn and connect with the Games,” said Marvin Chow, Google’s vice president of Marketing.