In a couple of days, France will be hosting the 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony, kickstarting the next chapter of the historical sporting event.
Yet, with this year’s ceremony being the first to involve the International Olympic Committee’s new AI Agenda, the Paris Olympics will look a lot different from previous Games that have come before.
From AI-powered surveillance technology to new judging support systems, the unprecedented initiative is set to transform the core pillars of the sporting ceremony and hopefully, usher in a new era of efficiency. We take a look at what changes you should be expecting in the first-ever AI Olympic Games.
What Is the Olympic AI Agenda?
The AI landscape has shifted monumentally since Tokyo hosted the 2020 (one) Summer Olympics, with the technology’s rapid development sending ripples across every core industry. Rather than playing a game of AI catch-up, the IOC has decided to push the boundaries of AI innovation forward by launching The Olympic AI Agenda – its most far-reaching technological agenda to date.
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The Olympic AI Agenda is an initiative that reimagines the way AI technology can be applied to sports. First introduced in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park during the 2012 London Olympic Games, it was the third installment of a trilogy of strategy documents created by the IOC, and was officially launched in April this year.
According to IOC President Thomas Bach, the goal of the initiative is to “set the course for the AI future of sport with responsible leadership by embracing the change while preserving the Olympic values”. The agenda establishes a governance and oversight framework to identify both the risks and positive potential associated with AI in sports. It will be deployed in several high-impact areas we outline below, from training to broadcasting.
7 Ways AI Is Being Used To Transform the Olympics
The IOC’s pioneering initiative is set to impact most aspects of the historic sporting event. Here are some ways that the Olympic Games are integrating AI into their operations.
1. Training
Even before athletes enter the arena, AI is being used to help them reach their potential. Specifically, trainers are using advanced AI algorithms to analyze athletes’ techniques, improve their training regimes, and minimize injuries. In addition to cultivating more personalized training routines, and using data-powered insights, AI is also being used to simulate training companions.
For example, Indian table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has previously trained with a table tennis robot promoted by the IOC, while other athletes have used hyperrealistic virtual reality software.
“It can generate speeds and spin on the ball which no humans can manage. As a result, my receiving ability has improved, and the flicks have also gotten better.” – Table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran told The Times of India how an AI bot has improved his training
While our brains respond slightly differently when training with AI companions, some experts, like Daniel Ferris, a Ph.D professor of biomedical engineering, claim that using the technology could actually “be better than training against a human opponent”.
2. Judging
While AI has been used to judge athletes in previous Games, the 2024 ceremony will utilize the technology to track performance even more closely. Since AI can be used to analyze capabilities too intricate for the human eye, the technology is expected to usher in a new era of judging accuracy.
No sport is adopting this strategy more than gymnastics. In 2023, the International Gymnastics Federation (IGF) employed a new Judging Support System (JSS) to capture the movements of gymnastics and evaluate them based on the sports rule book. After its success at the most recent world championships, the JSS will be making its debut at its first Olympic Games in France.
London 2012 Olympic gymnast and Tech.co Managing Editor, Jennifer McIlveen, has been impressed by the development of Fujitsu’s JSS Software and is looking forward to seeing how it may assist judges and spectators during the Paris 2024 Games.
“Fine margins in the angle of a handstand or degree to which a gymnast shows splits could be the difference between a gold or silver medal winning score. So, to have technology help ensure fair decisions in this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sport, can give both competitors and fans more confidence in the results.” – Jennifer McIlveen OLY, Tech.co Editor and Olympian
3. Surveillance
AI is also going to be used to improve the safety of Paris 2024 attendees. The Games’ surveillance system will rely on AI-powered cameras to automatically flag potential security threats. After these cameras detect risks, they will relay issues to security personnel, where workers can take action to confirm risks and resolve them.
While the use of AI isn’t normally permitted in French surveillance activities, the country passed a law in March of 2023 that allows the use of AI security in large-scale events like the Olympics. Specifically, the law permits the technology to be used to identify crowd surges, the presence of weapons, signs of fire, abandoned objects, and other abnormal risks.
4. Social media
The IOC has designed a new AI-powered monitoring system to protect athletes from online abuse. The mechanism will use artificial intelligence to monitor hundreds of thousands of social media accounts and will flag any potentially abusive messages to the relevant platforms.
The IOC also created an AI chatbot to make important information more accessible to athletes. The Intel-powered Athlete365 platform was designed to provide easy and quick answers to frequently asked questions on topics like social media guidelines, Rule 50 regulations, anti-doping rules, and more.
5. Energy management
AI is also being used to curb unnecessary energy usage in the Paris arena. The energy usage in Paris will be monitored in real-time using digital-twin technology. The new environmentally conscious system will help organizers see where they need power, where they need to place cameras, and if they need to address any potential accessibility issues.
According to Ilario Corna, the IOC’s Chief Technology Officer, the committee “started gathering various operational data as far back as 2020” to make the management of the 2024 Games more energy efficient.
6. Broadcasting recaps
Artificial Intelligence will also be transforming the Olympic experience for each viewer. The Official AI Platform Partner for Paris 2024, Intel, has been developing a new Automatic Highlights Generation system capable of automatically compiling key sporting moments into tailored highlight reels. The technology was trained on Olympic archive videos and can be customized to meet the needs of different media outlets.
AI will also be leveraged by NBC’s Peacock service to improve events coverage, online and in the Peacock app. It will be used to recreate the voice of Al Michaels, an American sports broadcaster with over 50 years of industry experience, from 5,000 hours of live coverage. His voice will be used to create 10-minute highlight playlists every day, tailored to each user’s topic and sporting preferences and packaged as ‘Your Daily Olympic Recap’.
Image: NBC
7. Timekeeping
The Olympic Broadcasting Ceremony (OBS) has partnered with Swiss luxury watchmaker Omega to improve the accuracy of timekeeping throughout the Paris 2024 Games. Specifically, they will be using AI to carry out intelligent stroboscopic analysis across sports such as beach volleyball, tennis, diving, and more.
This AI-tracking system will help viewers better understand the movements and biomechanics of athletes, and the insights will also improve reporting accuracy by helping commentators keep a firmer handle on athletes’ positions.
Images: OMEGA
