Wimbledon Is Getting AI Audio Commentary
This year's Wimbledon tournmanet will include AI commentary through the official app.
It seems like the use of artificial intelligence is popping up everywhere these days, and now it’s coming to the world of tennis. This summer, Wimbledon will be using artificial intelligence-powered commentary to help cover some of its content, according to The Guardian. The AI-generated audio commentary and captions will be provided in partnership with the All England Club and the tech corporation IBM.
For those who are worried that Wimbledon’s classic commentators like John McEnroe and Billie Jean King will be replaced, that is not the case (at least not yet). The traditional human commentators will still be voicing the live-action events on the BBC network, meanwhile, the AI-generated content will be used for online highlight videos. The content will be available on the Wimbledon app and website for those who are interested in catching up on the latest tennis events.
This new service will be powered by IBM’s watsonx AI platform, one of the most advanced artificial intelligence options for enterprises today. The All England Club, which already uses IBM’s AI technology for its player power index, has helped train the platform on the “unique language of tennis” so that it uses the right terminology and phrases. The platform will analyze Wimbledon’s singles draws to try and determine how successful a player can be throughout the tournament.
The watsonx AI platform will be powered by all sorts of tennis and Wimbledon data, including real-time tracking data for the ball and players and the types of shots the players make around the court. The data will then be processed by the platform and entered into a chatbot-style system to create language commentary. The words can then be turned into audio commentary which will use the cloned voice of the British tennis commentator Hannah England.
IBM has made it clear that they do not want to replace the human commentary element but that they want to enhance it through the use of artificial intelligence. They hope this new commentary will uncover anomalies and previously missed insights in the singles draw. The AI technology may be able to pick up on some items that tennis fans can’t see by just looking at a player’s ranking.
The tech group hopes to one day use AI commentary in full matches as opposed to only the highlight videos. The use of this new software can potentially free up time for Wimbledon employees and crew to dedicate their efforts to other important areas.
This year’s Wimbledon tournament will run for 13 days, from July 3 to July 16, at the historic London court. Some of this year’s top competitors will include the defending men’s singles champion Novak Djokovic, Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, and World number one and French Open winner Iga Swiatek. Unfortunately, the legendary all-star Serena Williams will not be competing since she retired in September 2022.
Tennis fans can catch all the live Wimbledon matches on BBC iPlayer, BBC One, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sounds, and the Wimbledon app and website.
