The 2024 Olympic Games kick off tomorrow in Paris, where over 10,000 athletes will compete in 329 events. Also in attendance: a whole lot of AI.

From broadcasts to security, AI is being infused throughout the Paris games. It’s not exactly surprising in this moment when AI is dominating, but what is interesting is the extent to which AI’s presence at the Olympics provides a snapshot of how quickly AI is being implemented in various areas from live events to broadcast, advertising, athlete performance, law enforcement, and state surveillance.

Overall, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it’s determined over 180 potential use cases for AI in the Olympics, some of which will be on display this summer. AI tools will assist athletes with analyzing sporting performance and enhance the fairness and accuracy of judging and refereeing through precise metrics, according to IOC. Beyond competitions, some AI applications at the Olympics may seem like marketing gimmicks, while others could change how we interact with events and content. However, the controversial use of surveillance raises alarms among privacy and civil liberty advocates.

Last week, it was announced that Google has been named “the official search AI partner of Team USA,” marking the first time the sports organization has partnered with a tech company. Commentators with NBCUniversal will use Google’s new AI search overviews to answer questions about the sports on-air. NBC has also recruited Comedian Leslie Jones to serve as “Chief Superfan Commentator,” a role that mixes entertaining fans with showcasing how Google’s Gemini assistant works.

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee issued a statement praising the Google collaboration as a “powerful alliance that brings together the best of technology and sports” that will “inspire millions.” However, does anyone really want to watch sports commentators Google live on the air? This seems more like an ad for Google’s AI than a beneficial use of the technology.

As we know, these models are still prone to inaccuracies. The answers Gemini delivers may be less accurate than if the broadcast team researched the questions themselves. The same goes for the chatbot, powered by Intel, which the IOC is rolling out for athletes to ask frequently asked questions regarding guidelines and procedures.

Prior to this Google deal, NBCUniversal announced a new way for fans to watch Olympic content that could enhance the experience. The feature, called Your Daily Olympic Recap, will provide personalized recaps of favorite events with commentary from an AI version of legendary sportscaster Al Michaels. Users can set preferences to receive daily personalized recaps through the Peacock app, NBC’s streaming platform airing the games.

To create the recaps, the language model will analyze subtitles and metadata from NBC’s Olympic coverage to summarize events, rewriting those summaries in Michaels’s style before converting them into voice. With numerous events happening simultaneously, the Olympics can be hard to follow. Your Daily Olympic Recap addresses this by compiling the most interesting parts in a neat package, topped off with Michael’s iconic commentary.

Event organizers and the French government are also relying on AI to monitor potential threats. AI-powered cameras will track crowd movement and detect unusual activities, from suspicious luggage to traffic violations. They’ll collect geolocation data and deploy camera-equipped drones. Earlier this year, the French government changed its laws to allow this technology for the Olympics, passing Article 7 and Article 10, which permit AI-powered video surveillance and software to review video feeds. Critics argue that these provisions violate GDPR, the EU’s data privacy law.

While acknowledging the need for increased security at large events, data privacy researchers and civil liberty advocates express concerns about granting private tech companies access to thousands of cameras around France. The vague definitions of “unusual” or “suspicious” activities raise questions about surveillance scope and data storage, as well as future usage.

Anne Toomey McKenna, a law professor focused on privacy, AI, and surveillance, argues in The Conversation that the French government and private tech sector are using the legitimate need for security to deploy advanced surveillance tools.

“Flagging these events seems logical. But the real privacy and legal questions flow from how these systems function and are used,” she states. “How much data must be collected to flag these events? What are the systems’ training data, error rates, and evidence of bias? What happens to the data after collection, and who has access to it? Transparency is lacking.”

And with that, here’s more AI news.

Sage Lazzaro
[email protected]
sagelazzaro.com

AI IN THE NEWS

Mistral unveils its next-generation flagship model. That’s according to VentureBeat. The day after Meta announced Llama 3.1, French AI startup Mistral followed suit with its own new release, Mistral Large 2, which is significantly more capable in code generation and reasoning. The model contains 123 billion parameters and can run on a single H100 node.

Microsoft launches generative AI search results for Bing. That’s according to TechCrunch. Bing will now share AI-generated summaries in response to user inquiries, citing the sources of information.

Deepfakes of Kamala Harris are going viral. Media Matters reported that fake audio of Harris spread following President Biden’s announcement about not seeking reelection. The audio falsely depicts her as incoherent, manipulated from a past speech. TikTok has removed the audio, but it continues to circulate on social media.

OpenAI may be on track to lose $5 billion this year. That’s according to an analysis performed by The Information based on OpenAI’s financial figures. This burn rate indicates the company may need additional funding soon, despite expected revenues exceeding $2 billion this year.

FORTUNE ON AI

A day after raising $500 million, AI startup Cohere laid off about 20 employees —by Sharon Goldman

GM-owned Cruise has lost interest in cars without steering wheels. —by Jessica Mathews

Exclusive: Lakera snags $20 million to prevent AI apps from revealing sensitive data —by Sharon Goldman

Tesla shares plunged on weak earnings, but AI investments could lead to a $1 trillion-plus valuation —by Sheryl Estrada

AI could become the ‘new steel’ as overcapacity risk goes unnoticed —by Susan Ariel Aaronson (Commentary)

AI CALENDAR

July 21-27: International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), Vienna, Austria

July 30-31: Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore (register here)

July 31: Meta earnings

Aug. 12-14: Ai4 2024 in Las Vegas

Dec. 8-12: Neural Information Processing Systems (Neurips) 2024 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Dec. 9-10: Fortune Brainstorm AI San Francisco (register here)

EYE ON AI NUMBERS

80%

That’s how much faster Smoothie King’s chief legal officer has been able to review contracts using AI, according to Ironclad. The legal industry is quickly adopting generative AI technologies to tackle tedious contract work.