That sports broadcaster you hear could be AI

AI commentary was introduced in at least three major sports tournaments, including the Masters golf and Wimbledon tennis tournaments, for the first time this year.

A visitor watches an AI (Artificial Intelligence) sign on an animated screen at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry’s biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona.
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Artificial intelligence commentators are edging into roles in sports broadcasting, with major competitions such as the Masters golf and Wimbledon tennis championships using the tech to automatically narrate certain highlight videos posted on the tournaments’ websites and apps.

In June, Eurovision Sport, a division of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), used an AI voice to provide recaps in between live commentary at the European Athletics Team Championships in Poland. And next month, the U.S. Open will also use the tech, according to Noah Syken, IBM’s vice president of sports and entertainment partnerships. IBM collaborated with the Masters and Wimbledon to create AI commentary.

The developing use of AI in sports broadcasting events is just one of the recent examples of the tech quickly being adopted for tasks that could be performed by humans, stoking anxieties around job security and raising questions around AI performance compared to human performance. 

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

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