Kefreen Batista, Vice President of Technology, Globant, the impact of AI on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
More than one billion viewers from all over the world followed the opening of the Olympic Games on television and, for two weeks, the competitions were the center of attention of people of different ages and continents.
In all editions, the show is renewed and, in Paris, this was achieved mainly through the use of AI.
This explains the prediction by Brainy Insights, a global market research company, that technology in the sports industry is increasing at a compound annual rate of 14% between 2022 and 2032.
In view of this continuous process of innovation, it is possible to highlight six key points that help us understand the impact of AI on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
- Improved performance: No technological innovation has caused a revolution as big as AI is capable of generating. The main reason is that with sensors, cameras and permanent monitoring, the performance of athletes can be followed like never before. A huge amount of data was accumulated and relevant decisions could be made to avoid injuries. In addition, a personalized training with AI was launched in Paris, which suggested exercises to each athlete according to their condition.
- Headhunter tool: the collection of data to detect new talents worked as a scout in several sports. However, the results of this observation will only be accessible at the next Olympics, in Los Angeles, in four years.
- Chatbot as an ally of athletes: during their stay in the Olympic Village, a chatbot asked questions about the athletes’ daily lives and, based on this information, the algorithms were trained with AI to avoid harassment or harmful content on social networks.
- Energy savings: energy consumption was measured in real time and the large volumes of data that the AI was able to analyze allowed decisions to be made and reduced the carbon footprint by 50%.
- Personalized broadcast: as a novelty, the official broadcast of the United States offered highlights of the day produced with AI and customized according to the interests of each viewer. The technology was also present in data graphics, replays and some cameras that have a level of precision that, in addition to increasing fan engagement, helped referees in decision-making.
- Smart stadiums: one of the most important aspects to develop innovative solutions is smart stadiums. In Paris, for example, digital twins were developed to plan access, income flow, and security, among others. For those who could not attend the events, immersive experiences with virtual reality were made available throughout the city to take place in different spaces.
Throughout its more than 120-year history, the Olympic Games have always presented innovation.
If the 2021 Japan edition was the one that anticipated the AI phenomenon, this time, in Paris, we were able to see what it is capable of doing and revolutionizing competition.
In Los Angeles we will see how this goes. But one thing is certain: athletes’ training and safety, inclusion, involvement and operation, which have been defined by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the next games, can be enhanced with the use of AI.
In addition to this scenario, we will certainly have many disruptive surprises in this next edition.
