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AI: The Newest Player at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games
Here are a few ways artificial intelligence will transform the Games, from the lighting of the torch to the closing ceremony.
4 Min Read
iliya Mitskovets via Alamy Stock
More than a billion sets of eyes around the globe are watching the world’s finest athletes compete on behalf of their countries at the 2024 Olympic Games. Despite some controversial pros and cons of artificial intelligence in the workplace, the notorious technology is set to profoundly change the experiences of viewers and athletes alike at this year’s Summer Olympics.
AI will be a major player on the field with ever-increasing responsibilities behind the scenes, challenging expectations for the bounds of possibility as well as rumblings of AI disappointment. From enhanced streaming to predictive analytics or even accelerated footage sorting, AI augmentation will be a staple at this year’s games in Paris.
Here are a few ways AI will transform the Summer Olympic Games, from the lighting of the torch to the closing ceremony.
Enhanced Live Stream Resolution
While the Olympians are sweating it out and accomplishing borderline inhuman feats in their respective events, most of us armchair judges will be cheering them on as we enjoy live streams from the comfort of our couches. And thanks to AI-driven compression technology, the 2024 Games will bring unprecedented quality to your viewing experience.
AI can upscale video and images to a staggering 8k resolution, delivering crisp detail on every tensed muscle, bead of sweat, and emotional victory shown on your screen. By predicting and filling in missing pixels as well as proactively adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness and other variables, AI upscaling has proven to be a useful tool to improve clarity in many visual contexts.
Beyond boosting the quality of video, AI also expedites the production of the video itself through automated media tagging. While managing the camera calls and sorting footage of the events typically involves a small army of cameras and producers, AI can identify the best angles and clips in mere seconds, resulting in a streamlined and promptly delivered viewing experience.
This use case has now found its way to one of the biggest stages in the world, and it’ll be for our benefit over the next few weeks.
Predictive Maintenance and Analytics
With 329 medal events and over 10,000 athletes, the 2024 Summer Olympics have plenty of moving parts -- which means plenty of opportunities for malfunctions, delays and other hang-ups.
Not only that, but athletes and coaching staff are constantly wary of injury or other physical ailments that could impact their performance.
For improving athletes’ performance and health, AI has already proven itself as a worthy and trusted tool by professionals. Organizations like the top-tier Arsenal Women Football Club have formed AI partnerships and use the technology to inform training programs, analyze performance, and keep players fresh both on and off the field.
The Olympic Games are no exception. AI is also expected to aid in the judging of more subjective events like gymnastics or diving, capable of generating imaging for rotations, speeds, angles, and more.
Additionally, AI can work diligently behind the scenes to ensure facilities work at peak efficiency as the dedicated digital caretaker of Olympic venues. AI-driven predictive maintenance will foresee potential breakdowns before they disrupt events, keeping the spirit of the Games intact and in smooth operation.
Privacy and Ethics Considerations
Beyond maintenance, there are other logistical considerations for AI that raise familiar questions surrounding privacy and data use.
During the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, facial recognition was widely used as a tool to enforce security and accelerate entry into events. Such use of AI is prohibited for the Games in Paris, indicating a trend toward stronger regulation of data collection and usage. This is reflective of recent developments in global AI regulation like the EU AI Act, as the world gradually matures in its enforcement of responsible and ethical AI.
This encourages further conversations around how AI can be better used to foster a safer society rather than create additional risk. While facial recognition won’t be used in Paris, AI will still be augmenting video surveillance to analyze captured events, identify anomalous behavior, and allow a human in the loop to act accordingly.
Rather than engaging in controversial practices like capturing and storing facial recognition data, this ensures that the benefits are achieved without unnecessary encroachment on privacy – a principle that has become a staple of recent AI regulation.
This will be the first Olympic Games since the recent meteoric rise of AI popularity, and its impacts are expected to be far-reaching and noticeable. While AI isn’t eligible to win any medals or stand on the podium, we can expect it to be a fascinating and integral player in this grandiose celebration of human achievement.
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