LONDON — Olympic organizers revealed their plan on Friday to utilize artificial intelligence in sports, joining the worldwide race to take advantage of the quickly advancing technology.
The International Olympic Committee outlined its plan for leveraging AI. Officials said it could be used to identify talented athletes, personalize training methods, and make the games fairer by improving judging.
“Today we are taking another step to ensure the uniqueness of the Olympic Games and the relevance of sport. To do this, we have to be leaders of change,” IOC President Thomas Bach said at a press event in the velodrome at the Olympic Park in London, which hosted the summer games in 2012.
“We are determined to utilize the vast potential of AI in a responsible manner,” Bach said.
The IOC revealed its AI master plan as it prepares for the Paris Olympics, which are set to begin in just under 100 days.
The IOC’s AI plans also involve using the technology to shield athletes from online harassment and to help broadcasters enhance the viewing experience for people watching from home. The IOC earns billions of dollars through the sale of broadcast rights for the games.
Some AI projects will be introduced at the Paris games and the IOC has established a working group on the technology to further promote its adoption in sport, Bach said, without providing more specific details.
The local organizers of the Paris games have sparked controversy with their plans to use artificial intelligence for security, with a video surveillance system that includes AI-powered cameras to flag potential security risks such as abandoned packages or crowd surges. Digital watchdog groups fear that a proposal to legalize smart surveillance systems, even if only temporarily, will infringe on privacy, though the French government insists the systems won’t use facial recognition technology.
Asked about the concerns, Bach told reporters it’s up to the authorities in the host country, not the IOC, to decide on ”the best tools to apply to secure the games.”
“What we have seen from the French government and from the authorities is that the efforts to ensure security in Paris are really, on a very wide scope, very professional. So we have all confidence in the French authorities,” he said.
Skier Lindsey Vonn expressed her envy of the AI-powered tools that were not available when she was starting out.
Vonn mentioned that in the past, she took notes by hand in her performance diary on how different skis, boots, and the temperature affected her performance. Nowadays, tablets are used to instantly analyze much more data, as well as provide a side-by-side video comparison of the best racing line. AI can enhance those analytical tools, she said.
“It’s not replacing athletes, it’s not replacing coaching. But I think it’s just another tool that can be used in a positive way to perform better,” Vonn said.
The IOC has teamed up with Intel to search for potential athletes in overlooked places. The tech company took its equipment to Senegal, where they visited five villages and analyzed the athletic ability of a thousand children, by measuring how high they could jump and how fast they could react.
Intel’s chief commercial officer Christoph Schell said that they used AI to examine the results and discovered 40 very promising ones.
He mentioned that the shortlisted children's outcomes were analyzed by an algorithm, which then suggested suitable sports for them.
Bach, an Olympic official, cautioned against relying solely on machines to determine a young athlete's career. He emphasized that a wrestler who excels in their sport should still have the opportunity to pursue tennis and not be solely judged by the algorithms.
