Shaping Sports' Future: AI's Role in Education and Industry

     Georgia Tech's GVU (Graphics, Visualization, and Usability) Center reports that Jill Watson, a pioneering AI teaching assistant, joined their Spring 2016 online knowledge-based AI course staff. Jill seamlessly blended into the staff, accurately and authentically handling routine questions. Her undetected AI identity among students underscored her effectiveness. The success of Jill Watson in an academic setting highlights the potential of AI in enhancing learning experiences and raises intriguing possibilities for its application in other fields, including sports. How can Jill's effective AI principles be applied to sports? AI is revolutionizing sports through student interaction, academic research, and industry application. However, it's vital that AI in sports enhances, not replaces, human creativity and judgment.

 

     AI has broadened my research interests and improved the efficiency of my study habits. I began this research after a 2021 AI workshop for pre-service teachers. In 2023, alongside Professor Hajin Lim, I explored PE teachers' AI expectations and concerns in our study 'Engaging K-12 Physical Education Teachers in the Participatory Design of AI-Integrated Physical Education Classes.' Our workshops with 17 in-service PE teachers identified four AI roles: operational assistant, personal trainer, group coach, and evaluator. Despite optimistic expectations, participants raised several concerns, including a lack of technical skills among PE teachers, conflicting curricula, and more. Given the scarcity of practical AI applications to date, these results could be viewed negatively as mere inferences. Nevertheless, I am excited about the potential of AI in PE to improve the field.

 

     Additionally, AI has been a time saver for me, not only in terms of efficiency but also in supporting my research process. AI has assisted me in producing and presenting results for my course assignments. For example, using the English translation from DeepL was an effective tool to skim through large amounts of information. By utilizing AI in Adobe Premiere Pro, I edited and subtitled a 20-minute presentation video in just one hour, a task that previously took me four hours. AI also aided in preparing for and organizing interviews. I used ChatGPT to brainstorm interview questions, ensuring there were no omissions or missing follow-up questions. Then, I used Naver's speech-to-text application Clova Note to transcribe the recording in seconds. However, an over-reliance on AI in reading and writing led to a loss of patience and critical thinking skills. After reflection, I found a balance by distinguishing between tasks that AI can do better and those that I should do myself.

 

     Moreover, AI is gradually expanding into sports education and industrial research, although sports is one of the least distinguished academic fields in AI adoption. Following the Ministry of Education's decision to gradually introduce AI in K-12 education, some proactive PE teachers have been trying to integrate AI into their teaching. For example, a middle school PE teacher used Google's Teachable Machine to teach posture during strength training. Additionally, there was an industry-academic collaboration to develop an AI system called OnPE in 2021, led by Incheon University, although it has not yet yielded significant results. Meanwhile, researchers have explored the experience of practicing and watching AI-integrated sports. For example, the emergence of advanced systems like the one developed by Long Sha et al., focusing on trajectory-based sports analytics, illustrates the evolving synergy between AI and sports.

 

     AI has also made the research process easier, from searching for references to creating figures for papers. Researchers can use the ChatGPT plugin called BrowsePilot to find and analyze information across multiple URLs. As sports science research often involves analyzing data, researchers can use ChatGPT or Microsoft's Copilot to write code for crawling, refining, and analyzing data. Additionally, ChatGPT can provide data visualization for numbers with various plugins or render text into diagrams with Mermaid grammar. However, researchers must understand the original methods and be able to derive insights from the data. It is imperative that AI does not replace human reasoning and interpretation. To conclude, researchers should not over-rely on AI.

 

     Finally, AI has the potential to significantly benefit the entire sports industry. With athletes and coaches as the primary users, professional sports is the most active area for AI adoption. They are using AI to make team decisions, prevent injuries, and, most importantly, improve performance. For example, 2,434 football teams in 50 countries are using BEPRO's AI service to analyze match videos and track data without wearable devices. Researchers at the Korea Institute of Sports Science (KISS) have been working to improve the performance of national shooting teams by analyzing posture and aim accuracy since 2023. AI has also improved the viewing experience for fans and the fairness of matches. Fans can use interactive applications and augmented video, powered by machine learning and computer vision from Second Spectrum. In addition, semi-automatic offside technology with 500 ball position data per second was used in matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Sony's Hawkeye has been employed in professional tennis to make in/out decisions with millimeter accuracy. Therefore, the accuracy of AI is crucial to avoid mistakes.

 

     From another perspective, AI is impacting the sports participation market. It is increasing the number of people who exercise and reducing the role of trainers. AI-powered smartphone apps, such as Samsung's The Health, make it easier for people to start exercising through customized training programs. This trend has the potential to reduce the demand for and role of trainers. However, due to the high cost of motion-sensing equipment, human trainers are still more cost-effective. Additionally, people may prefer a human trainer for encouragement and emotional support. Therefore, the replacement of trainers by AI for non-athletes is a slow process, differing from the case with athletes due to differences in willingness to pay for performance. In conclusion, AI improves efficiency and accessibility, but human trainers remain valuable for cost-effectiveness and emotional connection.

 

     AI has been a game-changer in sports from the perspective of students, academics, and industry. However, it is vital to develop the use of this technology in a way that enhances human creativity and decision-making. We must be careful not to over-rely on AI. In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921, Dr. Christian Louis Lange aptly said, "Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master." There is a risk that the essential human-to-human interaction, a cornerstone of sports, could be lost if all human factors are replaced by AI. Therefore, a thorough discussion about the sensible application of AI in sports is imperative. This discussion should focus on delineating the tasks that are best suited for AI and those that should remain under human supervision.

 

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Reference

1 Kim Jae-seok, "Fun Physical Education Classes Experiencing and Creating AI Motion Recognition," Graduate School of Education, Kongju National University, Major in AI Convergence Education, Han-nae Girls' Middle School, Boryeong. This project is supervised by the Ministry of Education and the Research Center for AI Convergence Education at Ewha Womans University.

2  Song Jeon-heon, "Introduction of 'Artificial Intelligence' in Online Non-Face-to-Face Physical Education Classes... 'On Sports'," No Cut Sports, May 25, 2021. Available at: https://sports.nocutnews.co.kr/news/5558040.

3 Long Sha et al., "Interactive Sports Analytics: An Intelligent Interface for Utilizing Trajectories for Interactive Sports Play Retrieval and Analytics," ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, Volume 25, Issue 2, Article No.: 13, pp 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1145/3185596.

4 BEPRO, Official Website, https://bepro11.com.

5  Kim Ji-han, "AI Integrated in Shooting and Archery… Sports Science Changing the Color of Medals," Maeil Business Newspaper, August 3, 2023. Available at: https://www.mk.co.kr/news/sports/10800284.

6 FIFA, "Semi-automated Offside Technology to be Used at FIFA World Cup 2022™," FIFA Technical Media Releases, July 1, 2022. Available at: https://www.fifa.com/technical/media-releases/semi-automated-offside-technology-to-be-used-at-fifa-world-cup-2022-tm.

7  Sydney Boyo, "How Sony’s Hawk-Eye Electronic Line-Calling System Transformed the U.S. Open," published on September 9, 2023. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/09/how-sonys-hawk-eye-works-at-the-us-open.html

8  Minyoung Kim, "Samsung Life Launches Healthcare App 'The Health' for Exercise, Diet, and Mental Health Management," Electronic Newspaper, published April 18, 2022. Available at: https://www.etnews.com/20220418000040