Name: Brainstorm AI London 2024: AI’s Impact On The Sports Industry
Uploaded: 2024-04-15
Duration: 17 min 40 s
Description: Matthew Candy, Global Managing Partner, Generative AI, IBM Consulting Chris Clements, Digital Products Lead, Wimbledon Maggie Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, Lewes FC Moderator: Ellie Austin, FORTUNE

Matthew Candy, Global Managing Partner, Generative AI, IBM Consulting Chris Clements, Digital Products Lead, Wimbledon Maggie Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, Lewes FC Moderator: Ellie Austin, FORTUNE 

Brainstorm AI London 2024: AI’s Impact On The Sports Industry

Photography by Joe Maher Fortune Brainstorm AI

Conferences

Matthew Candy, Global Managing Partner, Generative AI, IBM Consulting Chris Clements, Digital Products Lead, Wimbledon Maggie Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, Lewes FC, Ellie Austin, FORTUNE 

Matt, Chris and Maggie. Thank you so much for being here. Now, Matt and Chris, I think we should just explain how you two work together. So IBM is the digital partner of Wimbledon, which is why we have the two of you on stage together. Just so there's no surprises. Um Chris, I want to start with you first. So A I is being used in various ways at Wimbledon. Could you maybe highlight a couple of the cases that you think have been most transformative to date? Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, like you said, there's a, there's a number of ways that we've been utilizing A I. Um I think the first one is around distilling data and being able to deliver engaging fan experiences at the back of that. Now, when I talk about that, it all starts with the fan, understanding their needs, understanding the pain points and understanding what we can serve them to get them more engaged with Wimbledon and get them more engaged with the tennis. So, what we've done over the years um is we've done a number of different initiatives starting with our Power Index. So what this was was a dynamic index, which enabled it enabled users to be able to see how players are progressing in terms of their form as we moved on through the tournament. So it's something a lot more dynamic than existing rankings. So users could understand exactly who they should be looking out for in terms of the big matches that are coming out that then fed through to our match insights, which are a percentage likelihood to win for each player on a match that's coming up. So, you know, for a fan, they can see where the big matches are, who's likely to play, especially for those fans that are less engaged, they don't follow the tour year round and where are they consuming this? So that's on our digital platform as well as on social media and then this year or in 2023 we took that a step further with our draw analysis. So what that was was an analysis of how difficult or a player's draw was from the very start. So that enabled a user to be able to select a player and see what their path through to the final looked like. So they could see where the big matchups were coming, where they were going to have a slightly more challenging match up. And then they could see that in order to be able to fully understand how the draw was likely to play out. And I think we've got some video footage which I'd love to run showing how this interface works. And you can also see it down here, maybe Chris and Matt, you could talk us through what we're seeing here. This is a representation of the tennis and all of the data points which we're utilizing in order to come up with some of those stats. So tennis is an extremely data rich sport, but it's not always the easiest for your average fan to understand. So what we're doing is utilizing A I to have to take all of those data points and distill that into something which is easy for anyone to understand so that they can fully engage with the event. And Matt who is the demographic that you're targeting here because it doesn't seem like if I think about, you know, my parents who love Wimbledon, I can't imagine they're going to be tuning into the app to, to engage with all this data. So I think it's aimed at all demographics. So, you know, only a small number of people get to experience physically, the Wimbledon, the amazing Wimbledon environment each year. So this is all about extending the reach the richness of the brand, um you know, and just the beauty of the game and sport. And so that second screen experience that people can access through the ipad app, IOS Android through the web platforms. AX is an amazing companion effectively to the live broadcast. And so, you know, we end up with all types of demographics accessing that in order to drive a deeper level of engagement with the game and with the sport, Maggie, I'm going to come to you in one second, bearing all of this in mind as we integrate a I further into the viewing experience does what it mean to be a sports fan change. So, um does what it mean. I don't think it does. I think it allows us to actually make the most of people's time. And I think if we all think about us in the room, everybody has chosen to spend time here today and time is probably the most valuable commodity that we've got. And so if we're able to create experiences that allow people to personalize the use of that time and be able to access the information that they want, you know, and certainly being able to create, you know, personalized content, et cetera. You know, I think the technology provides an amazing way to make the most of people's time. Maggie. Let's bring you in. So in addition to being CEO of le football club last year, you were part of a really interesting initiative. You were part of a team that created an A I campaign for a hypothetical female FIFA presidential candidate to illustrate the fact that there are very few women at the top levels of football. And before we ask you about it, I want to show a clip of the campaign and our candidate is called Hope Sogni. Ok. So Maggie, first of all, hope looks incredibly realistic. And secondly, why did you decide to get involved with this project? Yeah. Well, I mean, first of all, I don't know anything about A I, so I'm probably in the wrong room. Um I do know a fair amount of uh about people and unfortunately, I wish that hope didn't have to exist. Um but she exists because of human made challenges, which is the fact that it's very, very rare for females, for female candidates to get elected in football governance. You might find there are plenty of very very good women that are working in, in football. But when it comes to elections, which is generally how the women's football, where how football is governed, they don't always get elected. It's almost like their, their whole woman. This is a little bit too radical. And so it was we came together and decided to create a candidate and fed this person with the views, the insight, the research, the data from a whole bunch of women around the world who are working in football to create this person. Um Hopefully who someone like Gianni Infantino could actually ask questions to, to maybe get a woman's perception on a particular challenge and the challenges are real. It's a case of the fact that take the balance or ceremony last year. You know, one of the biggest awards ceremonies in the world, you hardly have any women that are in the decision making roles. And so it was put during a women's international calendar. So all the top stars were actually playing football that night. Um And, and then you also get really specific issues around a number of rape allegations where female players are actually going through a system. But the people that are perpetuating the rape, for example, their own presidents of the football associations are the people that they are required to report the allegations to. And so hope was kind of trying to create a system where we can feed in all of these, these ideas and have a candidate that can actually speak to and represent women that if they spoke up in some circumstances, they could actually face retribution. Did hope have any impact on changing the game. Yeah. Well, there was certainly a lot of buzz and I think that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to start a conversation. I don't really want hope to be elected. I'd rather there be a woman out there that is elected and that is the point. It was just to show that there are these situations around the world where women are not getting there is that kind of glass ceiling that's still in place. So we have plenty of reactions, plenty of discussions, plenty of conversations and even some conference conferences thought about actually profiling her and platform her and giving her the stage. So that's exciting. Um We missed a trek not having hope today, but we're thrilled to have you. Um, Matt. So in addition to working with Wimbledon IBM works at Seville football club with the golf masters at the US Open. Um I have a question about how you decide what use cases to pursue. So I saw a clip on Twitter or X of what was A I Enabled commentary at the golf and some people were loving it and some people were saying, if this is what it sounds like, I'm pressing mute, how do you make sure that viewers want the new technologies that you're introducing and that it's not just innovation for innovations sake. Yeah. So I mean, we've just obviously masters concluded yesterday, been partner with them, I think for over 25 years now. And so this year we had spoken voice commentary for every shot for every hole for every player um in both English and Spanish. And so the key objective there. And also similarly, if you look at what we're doing with Wimbledon and the US open is to basically be more inclusive. And so if we can provide effectively the ability for, you know, people in their natural language to be able to access deep and rich commentary around the game that they're watching, um You know, we've done similarly with Wimbledon around the highlight clips and the highlight reels that we generated last year and layering a natural language, spoken voice commentary ever found full of emotion and excited about the game. Yeah. No. So, so I think there's a lot of work that we've done taking open source large language models and the small model and training it specifically and not just on language because this isn't a language translation issue. This is around picking up the nuances of the game and expressing effectively what people are seeing in a way in which it's going to build emotion. And certainly we started with English and Spanish as two of the big constituents of viewing groups. But we absolutely see this is something that will open up to other languages beyond. So I think, I think it's important to say that actually what, what you're not aiming to do here is replace the human commentators. Actually, what we're looking to do is find ways to supplement them. So, so, so for instance, the highlights clips, the highlights clips of Wimbledon last year, we had generative A I commentary that was overlaid onto them. What that was offering was context as to the clip that you were watching. So it's not about trying to bring out that human emotion. It's not John mcenroe screaming at how exciting the point is what it is is just providing that extra little bit of context which in you to understand what you're seeing and why it's important. So, so it's, it's about finding the right use case for it. It's not necessarily about replacing or trying to or trying to come up and shoehorn these to places where they're not necessarily needed. It's about finding where the gaps are in the fan experience. And then we can look at the technology and whether or not the technology can work to alleviate some of those, some of those challenges that fans are having. Sorry, I was going to say this point of augmentation is really important because, you know, and I think if I look at the video generated highlight clips that we produce, that's not to replace content producers, but it's effectively to allow the A I to take a decision, looking at crowd noise and player, facial gestures and fist bumps to auto curate. What we believe is the most exciting point of the game. And then allowing a content editor to push that highlight reel and reduce the cycle time for getting stuff out there basically and allow more content and a quicker cycle time. And Chris Wimbledon is a very unique example because it's a tournament that's so steeped in heritage. And so the balance between preserving that culture and innovation is a particularly unique one. I know that the A TP has announced that it's going to be using electronic line judges across its tour as of next year. I think Wimbledon obviously has in person line judges and I wonder has using A I to make judgment calls on court been discussed for the future of Wimbledon. So this year we are, we are planning on keeping human line judges, obviously with any new and emerging technology, we'll be looking at how that progresses. We work very closely with the other tennis bodies and we'll be learning from their experience, but our decision will be down to what we think provides the best experience both for players and for fans so it could be in the future. No call back. Ok, Maggie. Um, aside from hope, how else can A I be used to bring more diversity to the game? Oh, it's funny, I was thinking about um how A I could be used in, in general and I run a fan owned club. You know, we have 2000, 402,500 owners in 41 different countries. And I think, you know, we're all very aware as a non A I specialist about targeting and segmenting your audiences. But it does make me think how about if we were able to segment to the point that rather than getting a monthly or, or a weekly newsletter, you're actually getting a video from me. So I was telling that person exactly what they want to hear because we're able to understand exactly what they want so that they're actually getting a video in their inbox where I'm saying, hey, hey, Dave, how are you doing? You saw the results last week and it is, it actually could personalize the experience, the real challenge in all of this is football is about people. It's about that human connection and I would worry that you would lose some of the value of me actually writing an email to somebody if they are receiving a monthly video from me that gives them what they know they want to hear. But it's not actually me saying it. So I think that's the thing that we have to, to to toe the line on a little bit. Um Matt, I'm gonna ask you the next question, then we're gonna open it up to the floor. So get ready if you have anything to ask. Um I'm interested in IB M's partnership with CV FC. Um And specifically, I know that similarly to what we had doctor be talking about the use of A I to enhance scouting a challenge there is privacy and the sharing of personal biometric data that belongs to players. What kind of guard rails or regulations do you have in mind when you're thinking about that particular use? Yeah. So I guess for all of the work that we do in this space, so we have a platform that we've built in IBM called What's Next, which is our generative A I technology. As part of that, there's a governance platform and toolkit. And so where we put these models into use that governance toolkit allows you the ability to monitor, manage for biased drift, explainability, observable and live use. Do you think about all of the regulation that's coming in around the world and making sure that you're compliant with all of that. Um And so certainly, if I look at the work we're doing with Sevilla football club, um So this is a product that we built for them called Scout Advisor. It's powered by our A I platform. Um And basically taking a lot of the quantum quo data that they've got around kind of potential players, about 200,000 player reports that they have and basically producing a very simple digital product to allow their 20 plus scouts that they've got to be able to access that information, to get simple summaries of that information and the data that's there to help them take better decisions. So again, it's not to replace them, but it's basically to help them sift through the huge volumes of data that they've got. I mean, these models are amazing at summarizing, being able to kind of chat with information and being able to classify information. And so when you think about generative A I, there's many uses of it in a non generative way. And so, you know, using using this this type of technology to basically help get these insights and gems from the data there to allow them to find talent. Does anyone have any questions for the panel? Yes, we've got one right here at the front. Please tell us your name and your company. Yes. Hello, Jamie TV, from Microsoft. Uh few years ago I went to the League of Legends World Championship and the sport my Children watch most is Fortnite. Um, it seems like there's a lot of opportunity for a, I, particularly in the e-sports domain. I was wondering if you could say anything about that. Well, yeah. Uh, so, uh, actually funnily enough, uh, Wimbledon entered Fortnite, um, last year, um, with, uh, race to Wimbledon, which was a mini game, uh, which we launched on, on Fortnite last year. Um I think, um, there's definitely uh a lot of potential in that es sports domain. It's very interesting because what we're trying to uh to, to match up is, uh as Edie mentioned before our heritage and, you know, the fact that Wimbledon is a brand that people know and they associate with certain things with the fact that we're trying to, to move forward and we're trying to deliver more engaging experiences through a variety of different ways and means. And at the center of all of that is the human element of it is the fact that, you know, the, the remarkable feats of sports people are remarkable because they are human and you can't quite believe it at times, but they are in the e sports Domain. Potentially there is a little bit more leeway to be able to be a bit more expansive in some of that. Um And I think it's maybe something that sits a little bit more, more, more naturally there. Um I just want to finish with a quick fire question for each of you. Um So we're obviously in a room of people who largely work in the business world. What lessons from the application of A I in sport in your experience? Would you like everyone here today to take to their respective sectors? Maggie? Let's start with you. I mean, number one for us when we were designing, hope you had to have proper human inputs that even though the brilliant creative agency, dark courses were the ones that put it together. They needed me and they needed my data, my database of incredible women to be able to feed it in. And if we are not being diverse in the way that we create A I, we're going to lose a lot of opportunities but also sideline a lot of people as well. Yeah, I think it's about being led by your users and your customers not being led by the technology and also knowing the limitations of the technology. So in our instance, for instance, we work specifically with what the next, which is the IBM platform because it can be specifically trained in our domain. So we can guarantee the quality of the outputs. It's going to talk like you would expect Wimbledon to talk for instance, so definitely be led by our users and know the limitations of the technology. And then I think um look II I guess a lot of the conversation around A I and generative A I at the moment is on productivity, right? And people looking at how this technology can be used to drive productivity and processes within the enterprise. So hr and procurement supply chain customer service and it absolutely can and it's absolutely gonna have a profound impact in, in those areas of business. But I think what the sports world demonstrates, um you know, in, in in spades is the use of this technology to drive new types of products and services and a deeper engagement with your customers and fans. And so I think there's a lot that business, every industry can learn about the way in which the sports industry drives really deep personalized engagement through using A I data and analytics. Matt Chris Maggie. Thank you so much for joining us today.