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AI is Changing Sport Forever
Another week, another newsletter - happy Monday! Today is all about AI - Read more to see what the future of Sport holds…
Here's what we got for ya today:
This AI Will Control Your Dreams
Staving Sport From Corruption
Can This Stop Injury?
The Return of F1
Most valuable public market sports teams
Let's get into it!
Wish Your Favourite Team Played on The Biggest Stage?
Look, being a football fan can be tough. The pain of a team being so close to greatness, yet not achieving it can destroy a fan.
Well, the hurt may be over…kind of. How? Augmented reality, baby. Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same.
Sports betting brand, Oddset, have announced the launch of their new initiative ‘Dreams of Europe’.
Partnering with Stockholm-based communication company, Perfect Fools, the company is looking to show off the true capabilities of AI. Here’s what we know so far:
The service contains 32 AI-generated commentaries which will showcase fans’ favourite teams winning a cup and entering European competition
The company are using OpenAI’s GPT-3 system
The AI has been trained to retrieve data on each teams players and instructions for simulated commentary on over 190 matches
The AI-generated commentaries are around 2.9 million words and 17,300 minutes of content - This would be IMPOSSIBLE for human copywriters and voice-over actors.
With the aim being for fans to listen to the audio while sleeping to visualise and have dreams related to the audio, for many this will feel real. Bonkers.
In that case, I guess it’s time to start dreaming.
“Swedish Cup is a unique opportunity for teams from the entire league system to make it all the way to a European adventure. Every supporter’s dream is to see their team play in Europe and with the help of technology, it has now been possible to put words to that dream,”
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SportsIcon.com is more than just a marketplace, it's a unique way for athletes and teams to connect with their audience and build their brand. Join now and be a part of the future of sports collectibles.
Will AI Save Modern Sport?
With Sport becoming more of a commercialised business everyday, people are concerned. What will happen to the integrity of our favourite games?
Corruption, fixing, and cheating. These concepts aren’t new, and sadly are incredibly prevalent in today's sporting landscape. While not a complete fix, the use of AI is certainly a step in the right direction to improving integrity and fairness in the industry.
Don’t believe us? Well, Info-Tech – one of the world's leading information technology firms – recently ran a study regarding its significance.
Predicting that the future of sporting practice will be heavily impacted by AI and Machine Learning (ML), the company found that digitally transforming a number of different elements of Sport is critical to the industry.
“By combining people and technology processes, the integrity and fairness of sports will improve, while enhancing the quality of the game."
Hopefully, we can see this implemented sooner rather than later. In fact, we spoke about how this is being done in Boxing just a few weeks ago. Another absolutely shameless plug for the Sports Goat.
Can AI Improve Human Performance?
Injuries. They suck. We’ve all been there. Whether a small niggle or something more serious, not being able to play your favourite Sport hurts. That’s not even considering when your favourite team's best player gets injured and it derails the entire season…
Annoyingly, sometimes it doesn’t stop there. The long term impact of injuries could change someone's career completely - mentally and physically.
The question is how on earth can we work to stop it?
If you haven’t noticed a theme yet, it looks like AI may also have an answer for this.
As explained by Acceleration Economy, AI and ML are now able to predict and prevent injuries by examining biometric data collected using sensors positioned on athletes while they train.
An example of this can be seen in the NFL’s use of injury prediction analysis. Specifically focusing on the concept of ‘load management’, the NFL reported a 26% year-to-year decrease in the amount of injuries during early stages of a season.
In fact, the analysis could work to prevent extremely serious health risks to athletes. During the Special Olympics World Games in 2019, a total of 1,529 medical incidents occurred. With athletes all using smartwatches trained to provide health and location information Yousef Alhammadi, Chief Intelligence Officer of Special Olympics World Games, stated “In some cases, quick response times aided by analytics made the difference between life and death.”
F1 Returns!
The F1 has been on everyone's lips this week and for good reason. With the release of the new season of ‘Drive to Survive’ along with the start of pre-season, motor-racing has dominated news this week.
With that has come to new sponsorship deals and partnerships. Most notably Mercedes have teamed up with G42, an Abu Dhabi-based AI firm.
Using the deal to incorporate technology into their future plans, this is what we know so far:
Mercedes aims to leverage G42's AI knowledge to enhance the effectiveness and scope of its activities.
G42's branding will be visible on the Mercedes car, helmets of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and in the team's garage during Grand Prix weekends.
The partnership involves collaborative training, talent nurturing, and workshops between G42 and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team.
The partnership strives to improve various on-track and off-track operations by utilising AI, big data analytics, and computing power.
Neither the worth nor the duration of the partnership was disclosed.
“To compete and win at the highest level of motorsport, we are always looking for every advantage. With G42, we are excited to begin our collaboration and using its AI-powered, data-driven insights to help us on and off the track.”
Quick bites
A New Era: Manchester United are Carabao Cup Winners!
Not what we want to see: The physical price of the NFL
Cementing His Name: Tommy Fury Beats Jake Paul
Meme of the day
hahahahahahahaah
— Lux (@Callux)
11:12 PM • Feb 26, 2023
Quote of the day
"Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly."
Photo of the day
CARABAO CUP WINNERS!
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