In a ground-breaking initiative, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today launched the Olympic AI Agenda. The initiative was introduced during an interactive event held at Lee Valley VeloPark at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, home of the Olympic and Paralympic Games London 2012.
The Olympic AI Agenda is the third in a trilogy of strategy documents launched under the leadership of IOC President Thomas Bach. It follows Olympic Agenda 2020, launched in December 2014, and Olympic Agenda 2020+5, launched in March 2021. It sets out the envisioned impact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can deliver for sport and how the IOC, as the leader of the Olympic Movement, intends to lead on the global implementation of AI within sport. It establishes the IOC’s ambition and guiding principles, identifies high-impact areas for AI application, and explores the framework and governance mechanisms needed to mitigate risk and promote the responsible use of AI. It outlines four commitments that the IOC has made as it takes the first steps in integrating AI into the Olympic ecosystem and leveraging the power of AI in its operations, in the Olympic Games and across the Olympic Movement.
Introducing the topic to a global online audience and more than 100 journalists on site, President Bach explained: “When we launched Olympic Agenda, our comprehensive reform programme, in 2014, we did so under the slogan ‘change or be changed’– for some of you here in Great Britain this may sound familiar, it’s about ‘To be, or not to be? That is the question”. Today we are making another step to ensure the uniqueness of the Olympic Games and the relevance of sport, and to do this, we have to be leaders of change, and not the object of change. Today, with the ever-accelerating development of digital technology, and in particular AI, we are again at such a crossroads. From our Olympic Agenda, we know that you can only be the leader of change if you take a holistic approach. While we have already seen some stand-alone AI initiatives in some specific areas of sport, there has not yet been an overall strategy for AI and sport. This is why, today, we are presenting this first holistic approach: our Olympic AI Agenda.”
The IOC President continued: “At the centre of the Olympic AI Agenda are human beings. This means: the athletes. Because the athletes are the heart of the Olympic Movement. Unlike other sectors of society, we in sport are not confronted with the existential question of whether AI will replace human beings. In sport, the performances will always have to be delivered by the athletes. The 100 metres will always have to be run by an athlete – a human being. Therefore, we can concentrate on the potential of AI to support the athletes.
“AI can help to identify athletes and talent in every corner of the world. AI can provide more athletes with access to personalised training methods, superior sports equipment and more individualised programmes to stay fit and healthy. Beyond sporting performance, AI can revolutionise judging and refereeing, thereby strengthening fairness in sport. AI can improve safeguarding in sport. AI will make organising sporting events extremely efficient, transform sports broadcasting and make the spectator experience much more individualised and immersive.
“We are determined to harness the vast potential of AI in a responsible way: our Olympic AI Agenda sets out a robust governance framework for the implementation of this strategy, which has to offer equal access for all and ensure self-determination for any individual.
“In this way, the IOC wants to set the course for the AI future of sport with responsible leadership by embracing change while preserving the Olympic values.”
During a 90-minute interactive session, experts from the fields of sport, technology, business and academia discussed the practical application of AI tools to sport and their implementation. In attendance were:
Thomas Bach, IOC President, Olympic champion, fencing.
Christoph Schell, Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer, Intel Corporation, and Lindsey Vonn, Olympic champion, skiing, who discussed how AI could be leveraged for talent identification in sport.
Michael Evans, Director and President, Alibaba, Olympic champion, rowing, Alistair Brownlee, Olympic champion, triathlon, and James Huckle, Olympian, shooting, who talked about how AI can help athlete performance.
Jesse Davis, Professor of Machine Learning Group & DTAI Sports Analytics Lab, KU Leuven, and Masomah Ali Zada, member of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team at Tokyo 2020 and Chef de Mission for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team at Paris 2024, who discussed a bike design study and the impact of AI on sports equipment.
Alain Zobrist, Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Timing, and Nadia Comaneci, five-time Olympic champion, gymnastics, and recipient of the famous “perfect 10”, in a discussion on the potential impact of AI on refereeing and judging.
Kirsty Burrows, Head of the IOC Safe Sport Unit, and Lindsey Vonn, Olympic champion, skiing, who discussed the role AI can play to support safeguarding in sport.
Christophe Dubi, IOC Olympic Games Executive Director, and Kevin Walsh, Managing Partner, Deloitte North and South Europe, who spoke about AI’s role in optimising the organisation of the Olympic Games.
Amit Joshi, Professor of AI, Analytics and Marketing Strategy at IMD, Andrew Stephen, Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research, Professor of Marketing, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and Sarah Walker, Olympic silver medallist, BMX, who shared experiences and insights from the AI experts on the IOC’s Working Group.
Dr Jian Wang, Founder, Alibaba Cloud, who talked about enriching historical images.
Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), Molly Solomon, Executive Producer & President, NBC Olympics Production, and Andrew Georgiou, President & Managing Director, UK & Ireland and Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery, who addressed how AI technologies are set to transform the broadcasting experience at Paris 2024.
The inspiring and thought-provoking series of discussions among the athletes and experts on the panel provided an overview of the wide-ranging potential and uses of AI in the field of sport and more widely. The development of the Olympic AI Agenda has been supported by Worldwide Olympic Partners and Media Rights-Holders.
Selina Yuan, President of International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, commented: “Since we started partnering with the IOC back in 2017, we’ve been committed to supporting the digital transformation of the Olympic Games with our cloud technologies. Now, with our proven track record of AI innovations, we hope to make the Games even more efficient, engaging, sustainable and inclusive for everyone involved, and this starts with Paris 2024.”
These sentiments were echoed by Kevin Walsh, Managing Partner, Deloitte North and South Europe, who said:
“Like so many other industries, AI is disrupting the sports ecosystem. We partnered with the IOC to bring Deloitte’s digital consulting experience to help facilitate the development of the Olympic AI Agenda, which will help guide the IOC and the Olympic Movement into a future where AI enhances many facets of human potential.”
Christoph Schell, Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer, Intel Corporation, addressing the impact of AI on sport, commented: “The impact of AI everywhere will be transformative. At the very heart of everything the IOC is highlighting today is the reliance on compute, the need for leading-edge processing – which Intel is at the forefront of. Adoption of AI is going to make sport more inclusive, competitive, safer and fairer. As a sports fan, this is incredibly exciting.”
Alain Zobrist, Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Timing, commented: “AI technology is already being integrated into OMEGA’s timekeeping systems at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and allows us to analyse and understand athletic performances much deeper than ever before. We’re excited about where the innovation can go next in terms of data storytelling and judging support.”
Focusing on the area of broadcasting, Molly Solomon, Executive Producer and President, NBC Olympics & Paralympics Production, said: “I’m a storyteller by trade, and our mission is to continue to innovate in order to tell more compelling stories about the athletes and the Olympic Games. AI can enrich our presentation through data analysis, with graphics and enhanced video, personalisation and predictive analysis. It can also help navigate the plethora of content the Olympic Games provide, connecting fans with the events and athletes they love, which will result in deeper engagement and spending more time on our platforms.”
The Olympic AI Agenda is the product of the deliberations of the IOC AI Working Group – a high-level panel of experts from around the world, including AI pioneers, academics, athletes and representatives of technology companies – set up by the IOC in 2023 to investigate the use of AI in sport. The Working Group undertook a broad review of AI in sport and the high-impact areas where the IOC could inspire the use of AI in its role as the leader of the Olympic Movement and owner of the Olympic Games. It aims to guide the IOC’s efforts to maximise the opportunities and manage the risks of the transformative power of artificial intelligence, to support athletes and drive the development of sport and the Olympic Games.
The Working Group is composed of the following experts:
Christopher G. Brinton Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University
Alistair Brownlee Olympic champion, triathlon, & IOC Athletes’ Commission member
Jesse Davis Professor, Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven
Randall Davis Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Lou DiLorenzo Principal and Director of Deloitte AI and Gen AI Incubator, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Soumitra Dutta Peter Moores Dean and Professor of Management, Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford
Daniel Ferrante Managing Director and Lead Data Scientist, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Todd Harple Olympics AI Innovation Program Lead, Intel
Amit Joshi Professor & AI Expert, IMD Business School
Patrick Lucey Chief Scientist, Stats Perform
Nitin Mittal Principal and Global AI Leader, Deloitte LLP
Agni Orfanoudaki Associate Professor of Operations Management, Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford
Daniela Rus Deputy Dean of Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Gadi Singer VP & Director of Emergent AI Research, Intel Labs
Howard van Rooijen Founder, Endjin, & Microsoft Azure MVP
Pascal Vuilliomenet Project Manager, EPFL Sportech Initiative
Sarah Walker Olympic silver medallist, BMX, IOC Member & IOC Athletes’ Commission Vice-Chair
Dr Jian Wang Founder, Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba
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