ESPN Defends AI Game Coverage Amid Backlash

ESPN announced Thursday that it will use generative AI to write recaps of Premier Lacrosse League and NWSL matches. The company said the articles will begin to appear starting Friday.

The company said each AI-generated story will get reviewed by a human editor, and all stories will have “ESPN Generative AI Services” as a byline.

Fans and media members were outraged on social media following the announcement, questioning whether this type of “coverage” would benefit those sports. An ESPN spokesperson defended the use of technology and pointed to several personnel moves. “The AI-generated recaps are an opportunity for ESPN to responsibly leverage new technology and provide coverage of every PLL and NWSL match for the first time,” the spokesperson said. “These automated recaps will allow ESPN staff to focus on feature, analysis and breaking news coverage. ESPN has always worked to combine human capability with emerging technologies as part of its mission to serve sports fans.”

The ESPN representative also pointed to the company’s recent hires of writer Jeff Kassouf and former player Ali Krieger to cover women’s soccer, and said it had several journalists on staff who cover lacrosse. 

A representative for the NWSL declined to comment.

PLL president Paul Rabil said he was comfortable with the arrangement in an interview with Front Office Sports. “To be able to get more content out—not just game recaps as they cited, but also highlights and closed captioning—I view it as augmenting effectiveness and not replacing,” Rabil said.

The Associated Press also uses generative AI to write game recaps. A spokesperson for the outlet tells FOS: “AP uses artificial intelligence and automation when it can free up our journalists to do more meaningful work. We use AI to produce audio-to-text transcriptions, create shot lists in predictable environments, tag content for search, and write corporate earnings reports and some sports preview and recap stories. We also use automation for the distribution of financial markets and sports data.”

The AP spokesperson added that the practice of auto-generated stories about corporate earnings dates back a decade and that any story generated with the technology contains a disclaimer.