The commentary on highlights clips in the Wimbledon app will be created by artificial intelligence
IBM and The All England Lawn Tennis Club are rolling out a new AI feature that uses generative AI from IBM watsonx to produce tennis commentary for all video highlights packages during Wimbledon 2023.
The partnership is also launching the IBM AI Draw Analysis feature that defines how favourable the path to the final might be for each player in the singles draw.
Both features will be available to fans via the Wimbledon App and wimbledon.com.
The new AI commentary feature will provide fans watching match highlights videos with audio commentary of key moments, along with captions, which they can toggle on or off.
IBM says the AI commentary is a step towards making commentary available in an “exciting way” for matches outside of Wimbledon’s show courts, which already have live human commentary.
The AI commentary has been trained in the unique language of tennis, while generative AI has been used to build on these foundation models to produce narration with varied sentence structure and vocabulary to make the clips informative and engaging.
Meanwhile, the IBM AI Draw Analysis statistic will show each player’s draw favourability through a rating along a scale, based on factors including the player’s match-ups against potential future opponents and how the player’s position in the draw compares to competitors.
Usama Al-Qassab, marketing and commercial director, The All England Club, said: “We are constantly innovating with our partners at IBM to provide Wimbledon fans, wherever they are in the world, with an insightful and engaging digital experience of The Championships. This year, we’re introducing new features for our digital platforms that use the latest AI technology from IBM to help fans gain even more insight into the singles draw and access commentary on a wider variety of matches through our match highlights videos.”
Jonathan Adashek, senior vice president of marketing andcCommunications for IBM, added: “IBM is bringing new layers of insight and engagement to the 2023 Championships through the use of innovative new tools, powered by foundation models and generative AI from watsonx. We’ve seen first-hand how these technologies have the power to help major sporting events like Wimbledon to grow their audiences through outstanding digital experiences. The AI and data platform that IBM is using to create unique fan experiences for Wimbledon is the same technology that we’re using to drive business transformation with clients across all sectors and industries.”
The Championships, Wimbledon takes place from 3 July to 16 July 16. The Wimbledon App is available on the App Store and Google Play Store.
No comments yet