US goes to AI coverage of Olympics, Europe doesn’t

The Olympic Games, which have been going on for a few days now, have officially started with a spectacular show. Now it’s the athletes’ turn to put on the show as 206 countries compete against each other in the coming weeks. However, watching sports activities in the United States is very different than in Europe, because generative AI is used in the United States and not in Europe.

AI-Stem

The most notable example comes from NBC, the channel where the voice of real sports reporter Al Michaels was turned into an AI. Michaels is still alive and doing sports reporting, but a new tool has been introduced that makes your highlights more personal to athletes so you get an update every day with the games you’re interested in. Various options are possible, not all of which Michaels himself can say. That’s why an AI version of this well-known game voice was chosen.

Warner Bros. Discovery, which airs in Europe via HBO (Max), says the technology is still too young for the sports commentator role. For example, it has seen tech companies demonstrate that it can translate reporting from English to other languages, but it feels numb when it comes to exciting sports moments. In other words: it misses what Jack Van Gelter did Dennis BergkampOr the way the legendary Andres Cantor builds, then for a very long time Gooooaaal shouts “The demos show that the words are translated well, but the sentiment is not conveyed,” Warner says Reuters.

Olympics

By the time the Summer Games are held again, it will be 2028. The sporting event will then be held in Los Angeles. There is a good chance that artificial intelligence will play a bigger role in global sports reporting, including in Europe.

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