What if we told you a few simple tests powered by artificial intelligence are all it takes to recognize a future Olympian in a crowd?

The technology, previously used at the Euro 2024 and the Copa América, made a big splash at this year’s Paris Olympics too. A sign that AI has been steadily making its way into sports.

From organizing events, enhancing broadcasting experience, curbing cyber abuse and conducting error-free judgments to training athletes, the Olympics used AI in a big way. And there seems to be more in store at the upcoming Paralympics, which is scheduled to begin on 28 August.

So, how exactly did using AI help Olympic organizers?

Efficient events: In April, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched the Olympic AI Agenda to explore areas where AI could be implemented in sporting events.

This year, AI was particularly used to monitor real-time energy consumption in order to better plan future Olympic games.

“For planning, we are now working with our partner Intel using the concept of digital twinning, or digital representations of venues so we can foresee, for example, where we would need power, where we would need to place cameras, and if there could be any accessibility issues—all without needing to be on site every time,” read a statement by Ilario Corna, the IOC’s chief technology officer.

Apart from that, AI-powered physical tests—including running, jumping and measuring grip strength—were also deployed to identify potential sporting talents among spectators. Interestingly, these tests were able to identify 48 children with “huge potential”; one was even found to be “exceptional”. The IOC plans to use this at the Paralympic games, which begin in a few days. It is also working on a similar portable technology—to find hidden talents—that it can use globally.

This year, the IOC also started an automated chat service using AI. It helped athletes get answers to commonly asked questions on, say, social media guidelines about what they can post and record, anti-doping rules and Rule 50, among other regulations. (Rule 50 prohibits any kind of protest by athletes at the Olympics.)

AI was also used to improve judging and refereeing, especially in games like running, swimming and gymnastics. To do this, Omega—Paris 2024’s official timekeeper—added special AI features to its cameras that enhance data comprehension and analysis. These cameras help track metrics such as rotations or jump height while simultaneously judging swimmers’ diving performance. It’s not possible to observe any of these with bare eyes in real time.

There’s more. AI technology is also being used to tackle an extremely crucial issue—online trolls.

Curbing online abuse: The internet can be an unforgiving place, especially when the performance of athletes swings in the opposite direction of what was expected of them.

For instance, at the 2022 Winter Olympics, UC-born Chinese figure skater Zhu Yi faced a lot of social media abuse after she fell down during her event. An abusive hashtag was also created, which got over 200 million views within hours. In another instance, the captain of the Indian women’s basketball team, Shireen Limaye, was body-shamed and bullied after the team lost to Japan in the 2021 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup. “I started having self-doubt and started hating my body,” Limaye had said in an interview.

The IOC expected over half a billion social media posts regarding this year’s games, affecting 15,000 athletes. To combat this, the IOC is using an AI-powered tool called Threat Matrix. At Paris 2024, it monitored and reviewed all Olympics-related social media posts. Threat Matrix will also be used at the Paralympics and perhaps in other global sporting events.

How exactly does it curb abuse? Threat Matrix scans online posts in over 35 languages across platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) during the games. It then identifies posts that have hate speech and abusive language. Next, it categorizes them to be shared with human reviewers. However, those sharing these posts have the choice to opt out of this scrutiny, which limits the tool’s efficacy.

Threat Matrix has also been trained to understand the underlying emotions in posts and nuances of languages to detect sarcasm, which it can then flag for review.

AI in sports: The integration of AI in the Olympics seems to be taking care of a lot of issues for the IOC. Additionally, it is also expected to open up opportunities for companies working on such technology.

The global AI in sports market was valued at $2.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 30.1% to reach $29.7 billion by 2032, according to analysis firm Allied Market Research.

“The impact of AI on the sports industry is already profound, enhancing fan engagement, in-game analysis, content monetisation, and more,” Alan Flower, executive vice president, CTO and global head (cloud native and AI labs) at HCLTech, told The Economic Times. “As the global sports AI market is poised for substantial growth, sports organizations must stay updated on the latest advancements and integrate AI technology to maximize its benefits and stay ahead of competitors.”

The AI technology is expected to help elevate the experience for all stakeholders:

by making it easier for organizers to plan events as well as record and judge athlete performance accurately
by helping participants access personalized coaching and tailor-made training sessions
by creating highlights and unique content for viewers

All eyes are on the Paralympics now. However, the events and the talent the IOC has to monitor in these games are vastly different. It will be interesting to see how AI fares.

Cover image from Intel via IOC Media