You cannot be serious! Wimbledon turns to AI to offer commentary on daily highlight clips
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You can’t be serious! Wimbledon turns to AI to comment on daily highlight clips
- The All England Club has announced that daily clips will now use AI commentary
- The new AI speaker has been trained to use the ‘unique language of tennis’
- It also takes into account ball tracking data and shot used information
You won’t recognize the voice and you’re unlikely to hear phrases that stick in memory, as commentary on this year’s Wimbledon app and website is provided by artificial intelligence.
The All England Club has announced that daily highlight clips will use AI commentary and text captions instead of human input.
Traditionalists may disagree, but IBM Watsonx’s technology has been described as “an exciting way” to make commentary available out of court.
To develop the system, the AI commentator has been trained to use the ‘unique language of tennis’.
Dialog for recorded highlights will also be generated using ball tracking data and information about the type of shot being used and the locations of the players on the field.
The All England Club has announced that daily clips will now use AI commentary, but IBM Sports Partnerships Leader, Kevin Farrar, says ‘You can’t replace John McEnroe by commenting’ (Photo: John McEnroe)
The new AI speaker has been trained to use the ‘unique language of tennis’. It also takes into account ball tracking data and shot used information
A similar AI commentary model was used this year for the US Masters golf tournament.
For Wimbledon, both male and female sounding commentators will be used, although the voices will not have human input.
With line judges also likely to be replaced by technology in the coming years, even the most traditional events are changing in line with the modern world.
“I see AI as an addition to the human element rather than a replacement,” said Kevin Farrar, leader of IBM Sports Partnerships.
‘You can’t replace John McEnroe’s commentary, that human element must always be there. It is very much complementary and complementary.
“For Wimbledon, it’s about commenting in the future on matches that currently don’t have human commentary – like the seniors, juniors, wheelchair [events].’
Live human commentary from show court matches broadcast by the host broadcaster BBC will continue to be available. But AI could also be used for live events in the future.
Jonathan Adashek, senior vice president of marketing and communications at IBM, said: “The AI and data platform IBM is using to create unique fan experiences for Wimbledon is the same technology we are using to drive business transformation with clients around the world. and industries.’