Wimbledon to introduce AI-powered commentary this year

In a ground-breaking new first, Wimbledon organisers will make use of Artificial Intelligence to generate commentary for online clips and highlights.

While AI-powered content is a long way off being able to provide a human-level service of this type, it is believed that it could help cut down on time-consuming editing of clips and video replays, instead allowing AI-powered software to generate relevant commentary for specific highlights reels.

The service will be available on the Wimbledon app and website, which will be separate to the BBC’s own coverage of the tournament.

The All England Club already has a partnership in place with IBM for use of its technology to provide features such as player power index, which analyses player performance. This next development will take things a step further, as the All England Club has been working with IBM’s AI platform to train it to use tennis terminology in an attempt to recreate human commentary as closely as possible.

While this news has arrived to the consternation of many, it will currently be very limited in its coverage. The notion of replacing commentators for live matches may be on the minds of Wimbledon organisers and broadcasters, but for now it remains a long way off.

If and when that times does come, the All England Lawn Tennis Club may well find a greater backlash than anticipated as the human touch of all-time greats such as John McEnroe and Tim Henman will be difficult to replicate for a well-tuned tennis ear.

Coming hot on the heels of an announcement by the ATP that all tournaments will use automatic line-calling technology by 2025, the All England Club’s embracing of such innovative technology serves as yet another example of how rapidly developing technological advancements continue to impact the sport.

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