New Delhi: IBM and The All England Lawn Tennis Club today announced a new feature for the Wimbledon digital experience that will leverage match data with generative AI from IBM’s AI and data platform, watsonx, to keep fans updated on the world’s leading players as they advance through The Championships.
The new ‘Catch Me Up’ feature displays pre- and post-match player cards with AI-generated player stories and analysis via wimbledon.com and the Wimbledon 2024 App. Player cards will be personalized based on user preferences and data such as their location and myWimbledon profile, starting with their favourite players. Pre-match content will include analysis of recent performance and likelihood-to-win predictions, and post-match content will include key statistics and highlights. The feature will also create longer-form daily summaries of play.
New GenAI Feature:
‘Catch Me Up’ was built using IBM’s Granite large language model (LLM) to provide AI-generated text using the capabilities of the watsonx platform. The model has been trained on the Wimbledon editorial style and will be monitored by the All England Club. The new feature is designed to help Wimbledon scale its content to both new and existing tennis fans globally, as well as provide fans access to timelier, curated coverage across ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches, which are often happening simultaneously.
This year, Wimbledon will also use generative AI to provide coverage of a broader range of matches than was previously available, including wheelchair events, to offer more to Wimbledon’s diverse international audience. This will form part of a redesigned digital match center, known as IBM Slamtracker, available on the Wimbledon App and wimbledon.com. Using generative AI built from watsonx, IBM Slamtracker has been enhanced to provide bullet-point-based match previews and post-match reviews for ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches.
Majority Of Tennis Fans Surveyed Positive About AI
The announcement comes as new research from IBM and Morning Consult reveals that 55% of global tennis fans surveyed think AI will have a positive impact on sports. When considering how generative AI could improve their experience, these respondents prioritized real-time updates (36%), personalized content (31%), and unique insights (30%).
Approximately one-third (31%) of global tennis fans surveyed use multiple devices while watching sporting events, primarily to get more information, watch multiple matches at the same time, and interact with other fans. In addition, nearly half (47%) of them engage with additional content on tennis daily or weekly and rank summarization and personalization as the two most important features of sports content.
The Championships, Wimbledon will run from July 1-14, 2024. To see the technology in action, visit wimbledon.com or download the Wimbledon App on your mobile device, available on the App Store and Google Play Store.