Considering AI In Sports And Entertainment
Considering AI In Sports And Entertainment
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwerner/2026/06/03/considering-ai-in-sports-and-entertainment/
Publish Date: 2026-06-03 06:25:00
Source Domain: www.forbes.com
athlete with artificial robotic legs running fast
getty
AI is getting lots of applications in the sports world, and in the world of entertainment. In sports, for example, you have real-time spatial data, on players through harnesses, in facilities with lidar, and so forth. In entertainment, there are new ways to render a person’s likeness, or a cartoon character, or a setting, through the amazing visual capabilities of today’s LLMs.
I found this from a group-authored academic/analytical paper on AI in sports and beyond, posted on ScienceDirect:
“Artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated remarkable power in transforming various industries. It is clear that AI has shown promising results in enhancing athletic performance, competition management, and viewer experience for sports.”
As for entertainment, big budget studios and producers are embracing what LLMs can do in this realm, too. Check out this roster from IMDb for more on where AI is coming into play.
Thoughts from Imagination in Action
I help run events called Imagination in Action or IIA conferences in Boston, at Davos, and elsewhere. In April, at MIT, we had a panel discuss these sectors and what AI is doing. Wall Street Journal Technology and Media Editor Sarah Krouse interviewed George Barrios of Isos Capital Management, Sumair Khan of Catch 12, Brian Walker of DraftKings and Lauren Selig of Shake and Bake productions, about all of this and the roles that AI now plays.
Where’s the Disruption?
The first question from Krouse centered around where panelists have seen disruption in their fields. Interestingly, three out of four of them said they don’t perceive AI to be working that way, exactly.
“Large, successful businesses dabble in the first phase,” Barrios said, adding that he has not seen “disruption” per se, to this point. “They have to do something, so they begin doing things … I would say the disruption hasn’t come yet.”
“Athletes are very distrusting generally across the…