A crocodile near your ball? AI Rules Experts Open Rules Tell you what to do

OAKMONT, Pa. (Reuters) – The rules of golf can be complicated, but this week in the US, interactive artificial intelligence avatars offer a glimpse into how golfers can get instant answers to their questions, even if they encounter a crocodile on the course.

Overlooking the 17th green at Oakmont Country Club, there are three demo terminals where USGA Rules avatar expert Jay Roberts stands at his rugged fingertips, waiting for questions about the golf rules.

To interact with the rules of a Golf AI Avatar, users must tap and hold their finger on the screen and answer in the same language while asking questions in English, Spanish or Mandarin.

When asked what to do if a golfer finds a crocodile in the same bunker with the ball, the avatar immediately shows mental wit: “Bunker crocodile, now it's dangerous.”

The avatar then tells the user that they can either save the ball freely by dropping the ball to the nearest point of the safe bunker, or they can get free relief by not coming near the hole, or by getting a penalty stroke and dropping outside the bunker.

Deloitte worked with the American Golf Association to create a demonstration using four years of USGA expert answer rules inquiry data, combined with advanced AI, to provide real-time, accurate answers to rules questions.

Avatars still don't have access to the broader communities and stakeholders that USGA works with, but ultimately they can serve players via the app on phones and golf cart screens.

According to Lou DiLorenzo, Deloitte's National AI & Data Strategy Leader, the technology helps golfers further educate the rules of the game.

“What we're doing here is to use technology to make the games and rules more accessible, which allows more people to enjoy playing under fair playing conditions,” DiLorenzo told Reuters.