The AI selected to give the FIFA World Cup an edge

The FIFA World Cup is arguably the greatest advertising opportunity ever conceived. The Super Bowl is one thing, which drew in about 125 million viewers earlier this year, but for context, at least 2.8 billion watched some portion of 2022’s World Cup competition in Qatar. And this year, that number is expected to rise to at least six billion.

But these figures pale in comparison to the sheer amount of money poured into marketing campaigns by some of the world’s largest companies looking to promote everything from soda and athleisure, to cars and computers.

Leading AI innovators are in that mix as well, but instead of showcasing just how powerful their LLMs are, two of the largest contributors to the FIFA World Cup’s ad spend, OpenAI and Google, have proven largely content with just reminding the public they exist. For the ChatGPT creator, that means paying Argentine striker Lionel Messi to ask the chatbot to virtually dye his hair the colors of his nation’s flag. Gemini, meanwhile, has confined itself to sponsoring the Argentinian team itself, and tinkering with the model to answer questions about matches as a fan might.

Engagement at this level is understandable since Google, whose AI-infused Maps and Translate apps, already provide immeasurable added value to visiting fans navigating unfamiliar back roads and talking to waiters in non-native languages. Other companies, however, have more intricate game plans.

Behind the scenes

Lenovo, for instance, has released Football AI Pro, an application designed to crunch millions of data points generated during matches into over 2,000 metrics to benefit every national team as they plan strategies for their upcoming matches. Using this data, the AI agents on the platform can then provide worded responses, graphic displays, and animated simulated scenarios. “Teams can even match action showing the tactical decision-making from previous matches,” says Art Hu, Lenovo’s global CIO.

Discussions with FIFA about the project began in 2022, says Hu. By then, the company already had a robust track record in sports partnerships, having embarked on collaborations with Formula 1, Ducati, and the Carolina Hurricanes. In FIFA’s case, the idea for the product came from Lenovo as a software platform that could provide AI-powered statistical data analysis and insights for all 48 participating national teams. Most sports, says Hu, don’t even come close to providing that level of access to AI technology.

Match officials are also benefiting. In addition, Lenovo has built AI-powered 3D constructions of over 1,200 players in the competition that referees can use to aid their decisions when their view of players, or that of the VAR camera, is obscured. “These player avatars provide greater context and understanding in moments that matter,” says Hu, “We’ve seen them effectively used during offside replays during the tournament.”

As the group stages conclude and the tournament itself eventually ends, FIFA will release more data, says Hu, so at press time, he can’t speak about how Football AI Pro is precisely helping each team. However, he sees clear applications for the platform long after a winner is decided.

“As Football AI Pro has been built in part using Lenovo’s AI Factory, much of the underlying infrastructure can be utilized again and applied to other solutions that require a bespoke, multi-agent AI engine,” he says.

Crowd control

Beyond the pitch and into the stands and beyond, AI is also providing a crucial safeguarding role. Approximately five million fans are predicted to descend on US, Mexican, and Canadian host cities to see their teams play — a heavy lift for local emergency services fielding calls from tourists who often default to their first language when adrenaline kicks in.

That’s where RapidSOS hopes it can help. The firm provides the means for emergency services in the US, Canada, and Mexico to summon crucial contextual information about callers to their phones, such as precise location. The company also uses AI to surface vital information about the emergency from conversations that can be shared with relevant stakeholders. Considering the scale of the event itself, that means keeping not only first responders in the loop, but also FIFA, stadium operators, and any other major company whose premises serve as a touchpoint for fans. Crucially, in addition to transcribing and key-wording calls, RapidSOS software can translate up to 50 languages from phone audio, which is especially useful on busy match days.

That same service also kicks into gear when the audio on the call is muffled or unclear, which is likely to occur if an emergency takes place inside a loud and crowded stadium. “We have a huge amount of synthetic data based on real calls that we pressure test on an ongoing basis,” says Zach LaValley, RapidSOS’s chief technology officer. “We might also prefer a set of models based on the languages we know the locality has strength in, so San Antonio might use a different translation or transcription model than Boston.”

He stresses that RapidSOS’s system doesn’t supersede other services on offer to fans, but if it takes several minutes to find a person who can speak the right language, he says, there’s a rapid and functional alternative.