This year’s prestigious Wimbledon tennis tournament is set to integrate AI-powered features such as commentary and player analysis to help fans engage more deeply with the championship. The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELT), which organizes the event, and technology giant IBM made a recent announcement showcasing that the world’s oldest tennis tournament is embracing advanced technology across its online platforms.
One of the highlights of this technological integration is a new AI commentary feature that will generate audio and captions for match highlights videos, offering insights on key moments throughout the event. This feature, leveraging IBM’s WatsonX technology, has been developed in collaboration with the AELT, ensuring that it uses tennis-specific language to better immerse fans in the experience.
Usama Al-Qassab, marketing and commercial director at the AELT, emphasizes how the organization works with IBM to provide an informative and engaging digital experience of Wimbledon for fans all around the world. He adds that AI features will enable fans to access commentary on a wider variety of matches.
While human commentary is already available for Wimbledon’s “show courts” where major showdowns occur, it’s worth noting that some events, such as seniors, juniors, and wheelchair matches, currently do not have their own expert narration. The introduction of AI-powered commentary addresses this limitation, allowing enthusiasts to stay updated with essential insights on diverse matches.
IBM has been an official partner of the championships since 1990 and provides a range of AI-powered analysis tools for the competition, such as a player ‘Power Index’, match insights, and personalized highlights reels. Furthermore, this year’s draw analysis feature will introduce a new statistic that defines how favorable the path to the final might be for each player in the singles draw.
Jonathan Adashek, senior vice president of marketing and communications for IBM, says that AI technologies can help major sporting events such as Wimbledon attract larger audiences through outstanding digital experiences. As early as 2019, IBM researchers were already working on AI software capable of providing play-by-play commentary on sports matches. Most recently, the company added computer-generated commentary to clips of the Masters Tournament golf championship in April.
While the adoption of AI in sports commentary and analysis undoubtedly adds value in terms of accessibility and enhanced fan experience, there may be concerns related to the potential for human commentators being replaced by AI technologies. Consequently, it is essential to strike a balance by leveraging the benefits of AI while appreciating the unique perspectives and emotions that human commentators bring to the world of sports.
Source: Decrypt
