What Does AI Commentary Means for the Future of Sports?

The Wimbledon tennis tournament in London features commentary made using artificial intelligence (AI) for the first time this year. This marks an exciting new shift in the way that technology is used in sports, so what could it mean for the future?

How Works AI Commentary Works

The details released by the All England Lawn Tennis Club confirm that AI technology is used to provide both text and audio commentary on the games in this year’s event. This is carried out using the Watson platform from IBM, which takes into account crucial details such as the location of the ball and player to create varied and engaging commentary that uses a wide vocabulary.

This technology will only be used for the highlights shown after each game is finished, rather than forming part of the live commentary as games take place. This type of approach has already been used in golf, with this year’s US Masters tournament using AI commentary, and is expected to become more common in many sports from now on. Tennis and golf are among the easiest sports to use AI commentary on, as team sports introduce the complexity of identifying individual players.

The organizers are also using AI to carry out a type of draw analysis that looks at each player’s possible route to the single’s final. It produced statistics that let us see how likely it is that any player gets to the final, adding an extra degree of analysis for those fans who enjoy looking into the odds during major tournaments.

This ties in with the way that combined casino, sportsbook, and retail betting software is used to allow fans the chance to bet using the latest odds, as well as providing access to classic casino games like slots and roulette. Live sports betting is a major aspect of the gambling industry, with sportsbooks getting up-to-the-minute information from a variety of trustworthy feeds that are used to create accurate odds automatically and instantly.  

More Fan Engagement

As with many other types of new technology, the AI commentary is largely focused on boosting the experience for fans. While it’s too early to say whether it will have this effect, it’s part of a move towards increasing fan engagement that includes the addition of new live-streaming options and the use of virtual reality or augmented reality to let fans see the action in a new light.

We’ve even seen sporting events take place in the metaverse and it seems clear that there’s more to come in this respect, with the expectation that the metaverse changes the sporting landscape in several ways such as by allowing the sale of virtual goods and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) related to the user’s preferred sports.

The introduction of AI-powered commentary at Wimbledon might seem fairly insignificant, but the truth is that it’s just one step in the process of increasing fan engagement and providing a more complete viewing experience that’s currently underway. We look forward to seeing innovative uses of technology like this to make our favorite sports even more attractive.