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Sports commentator Al Michaels watches before the game between the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders at Soldier Field on October 13, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois.
CNN
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NBC is bringing famous sportscaster Al Michaels back to the Olympics this summer in a surprising twist: his voice will be controlled by artificial intelligence.
NBC announced on Wednesday that it would use AI software to recreate Michaels' voice to deliver daily recaps of the Summer Olympics to subscribers of its streaming platform Peacock, marking a landmark use of AI by a major media company.
The use of AI voice at the Olympics comes amid exponential advances in technology, particularly in our ability to create images, sounds and text, raising questions about how artificial intelligence can or should be used in creative industries such as journalism.
The new tool, called “Peacock Daily Olympics Recap,” will feature 10-minute highlights packages with event updates, athlete bios and other relevant content. Subscriber settings.
The company says it can package highlights extracted from 5,000 hours of live coverage from Paris in around 7 million different ways, essentially making it an AI (artificial intelligence, not a human). A much more efficient way to deliver personalized summaries.
“When I heard about this, I was skeptical, but of course I was interested,” Michaels said in a press release. “Then I saw a demonstration that detailed what they had in mind, and I said, 'I'm in.'”
An NBC spokesperson told CNN that Michaels was being compensated for his involvement.
Mr. Michaels, who has been active as an announcer for many years, He currently serves as the play-by-play sports anchor for Amazon Prime's “Thursday Night Football.”. He also Known for his work on NBC and ABC's Olympic broadcasts, He was the commentator for the Miracle on Ice game at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
NBC said the AI system was trained using audio from Michaels' previous NBC broadcasts.
The company said NBC Sports' editorial team reviews all content, including audio and clips, to ensure everything is factually accurate and names are pronounced correctly.
The highlights tool will be available on Peacock starting July 27th via web browsers and the iOS and iPadOS apps.
