Why More Sports Need Robot Referees

Are AI referees ruining sports? Or making them better?
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If you’re watching the 2023 US Open, you’re seeing automated referee calls. After years of controversy about human accuracy, tennis has used a system called Hawkeye to not only check human calls… but now to replace human referees. And this robot ref revolution isn’t just happening in tennis. It’s taking over the sports world. Soccer, basketball, baseball, they are all using machines to improve the calls being made on the field. The World Cup in particular has invested in these tools, from VAR (video assistant referee) to semi-automated offside and goal-line technology.

The stakes are high. The difference between a right or wrong call can be a championship, or millions of dollars in prizes, endorsements, ticket sales. For the most part, fans like tech that makes calls more objective. HOWEVER… there is a big chunk of sports fans who would strongly disagree, who think that robot refs are ruining the game.

Thing is, this tech isn’t going back in the bottle! Stadiums are now being decked out with dozens of cameras that can track balls, people, and even use AI to make calls so accurate that one day human refs might be a thing of the past…

Chapters:
00:00 How tennis started a robot ref takeover
00:50 Soccer, basketball, and baseball automating refs
01:53 High tech World Cup balls
02:17 Semi-automated offsides technology
02:58 Video assistant referee (VAR)
04:25 Why some fans HATE robot referees
05:17 Do these tools remove human nuance?
06:27 Why some fans LOVE robot referees
07:02 How Hawkeye works in tennis
07:40 NBA and MLB announcements
08:14 Why these tools are huge if true

I talked about this episode with @mkbhd on the @Waveform podcast here: https://youtu.be/fmIvzU115y0?si=4FbSeNZFU4sAOBER

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Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Semi-automated offside technology, FIFA: https://www.fifa.com/technical/football-technology/football-technologies-and-innovations-at-the-fifa-world-cup-2022/semi-automated-offside-technology
- Video assistant referee, FIFA: https://www.fifa.com/technical/football-technology/football-technologies-and-innovations-at-the-fifa-world-cup-2022/video-assistant-referee-var
- The TRUTH behind Hawk Eye Accuracy, by Cult Tennis: https://youtu.be/ot3GGJ3tWbw?si=0XJTbjkEFODD-aZV
- How the World Cup’s AI instant replay works, by Vox: https://youtu.be/C164kYMGV1A?si=ataWZyJ2jsWYf4Ql
- Breaking down Goal-Line Technology, by FIFA: https://youtu.be/m17ERc-kQhQ?si=R80YH_7U81n8I_SX
- Automated Line Calls Will Replace Human Judges at U.S. Open, New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/sports/tennis/us-open-hawkeye-line-judges.html
- At the U.S. Open, line judges are out. Automated calls are in., NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/10/1121801484/us-open-tennis-human-line-judges-replaced
- Hawk-Eye Innovations and MLB Introduce Next-Gen Baseball Tracking and Analytics Platform: https://pro.sony/ue_US/

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