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Major sports leaders believe artificial intelligence will play a massive role in sports very soon.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, several league commissioners acknowledged the importance of improving sports technology and the increasing role artificial intelligence will soon play in their leagues.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver gave the most specific response, saying he expects his league will eventually adopt a system that will use AI to rule on “objective” rulings such as out-of-bounds calls.
“Those calls will be done by an AI, automated system with cameras lined around the court,” Silver said. “And it will take all those so-called objective calls out of the hands of the referees. It will be instantaneous, it will be automatic.”
He compared the system to the Hawk-Eye technology used in tennis for ruling on line calls. (The technology has faced some backlash from players due to wrong calls, most recently by women’s No. 2 Elena Rybakina, who claimed an AI-ruled call against her was “absolutely wrong.”)
Silver said the subjective calls will continue to be done by referees, including calling fouls. But allowing them not to think about objective calls will allow them to put their “full attention” on calling fouls properly.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said her focus post-CBA is going to be on growing the game globally, but also that they are looking at the same things as their “big brother, Adam Silver and the NBA,” when it comes to leveraging AI.
“That’s next after global [growth] is to see how we can use technology both in the business side and the basketball side,” Engelbert said.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said “embracing technology” is an important way the league can improve the business and on-ice experience.
“Not changing the game for the technology, but using technology to make the game even more compelling for our fans,” Bettman said. “We think AI is going to help us fine-tune some of the issues, such as: ‘Where exactly is the puck?’”
While basketball and hockey are exploring more ways to improve their use of tech, MLB already made a significant AI addition this year by adding the automated ball-strike system (ABS) to aid in pitch calls. Commissioner Rob Manfred said the system has been a win for the league.
“Adding technology to the field [has been] really, really important to us,” Manfred said.
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