Namaste Yogis. Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered, mostly correct! Here no question is too mundane. As a bonus, a proverb is also included. Today’s question, was submitted by Riezl in Las Vegas and she wants to know is there a role for AI in sports?
Riezl, you came to the right place. You pose a fascinating question worthy of a thorough answer. The answer is yes! I will discuss how AI may impact sports betting, sport analytics, and sports medicine. Let’s start with sports betting, but first a disclosure. I do not endorse gambling, nor any company mentioned in this article.
SPORTS BETTING
MySports.AI is an application that uses advanced machine learning algorithms, to predict outcomes. A unique feature of Mysports.AI, is its ability to customize different betting strategies for each player, catering to various funds and betting cycles. The platform provides back-tested records, allowing players to analyze the profitability of various events under each betting strategy. Mysports.AI backers say the model has undergone tens of thousands of machine learning training sessions.
SPORTS ANALYTICS
Sport analytics was popularized by the movie, Money Ball. Sports analytics involves collecting and analyzing relevant statistics to facilitate decision making. Acceptance of analytics in sports is commonplace and soon AI will join the club. New York University offers a sports analytics certificate https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/certificates/sports-management/sports and a required course is artificial intelligence and machine learning!
Sports are competitions set within a multi-billion-dollar business milieu. Not surprisingly there are on-field and off-field analytics. On-field refers to improving the performance of teams and players. For example, in the NBA the analytics indicate superior three-point shooting is essential. No team can expect to hoist a championship trophy if they are dearth of three-point shooters. Holy Stephon Curry, Batman! AI algorithms are being used in Formula 1 to improve racing tactics and to automated tire replacement strategies. Piccinotti (2021). Even tennis racquets are going high-tech with the advent of rackets based on Real HawkEye computer vision system data! There are several on-field analytics AI firms including GeminiSports.com.
Last, certain sports require considerable human judgment to determine the winner, i.e., gymnastics and ice skating. Recently, Fujitsu created an AI to analyze the performance of a gymnast’s movements using 3D laser sensors (Atiković et al., 2020).
Off-field analytics is concerned with the business of sports. Teams have multiple revenue sources, including ticket sales, merchandise, parking, television broadcast, etc. and expense centers. AI powered sports business analytics can discover ways to maximize revenues, reduce costs, improve fan acquisition, marketing strategies, and perhaps the financial impact of a new sponsorship. As shown by Chmait et al. (2020a), the relationship between the success of athletes and their salaries is an important value proposition to explore. GWI.Com and others are focused on AI in sports business.
Sports Medicine Analytics and AI
If we enter the time machine and travel to 1995, we discover researchers such as Bartlett discussing potential applications of artificial intelligence in sports performance! In 2006, Bartlett published Artificial Intelligence in Sports Biomechanics: New Dawn or False Hope, wherein he correctly predicted multi-layer artificial neural networks (aka Deep Learning) will take center stage in sports technique analysis. Other researchers such as Brockett, are using AI to detect patterns that lead to injuries. Fister et al. (2015) has researched whether nature-inspired AI algorithms can investigate safe and effective training programs since 2015.
I end with a proverb from Rwanda: All proverbs have a good reason for existing.
Until next time,
Yogi Nelson
Blockchain & AI Forum 