The 87th edition of golf’s historic Masters tournament began last Thursday, introducing innovative commentary and video highlights generated by artificial intelligence (AI) to provide golf fans with a personalised broadcast experience.
In a long-standing partnership with multinational technology corporation, IBM, the competition’s award-winning Masters’ app and digital website will include automated audio commentary from a computer-generated voice, narrating over 20,000 video clips during the tournament.
IBM utilised its foundational golf-specific Auto-AI models to train the extensive 1600 machine learning models, including IBM Watson Text-to-Speech, to adapt the unique language of golf at the Masters, producing varied sentence structures and vocabulary that exclude redundant play-play iterations.
The innovative technology enables users to access informative and engaging insights in real-time, without missing out on the nuanced and proprietary terms associated with the Masters.
Commenting on the new AI commentary experience, IBM senior VP of marketing and communications, Jonathan Adashek, said: “For more than twenty years, IBM and the Masters have partnered together to create custom solutions that improve user experience and capture the attention of millions of golf fans globally.”
“We’re applying that same hybrid cloud, AI technology, and IBM Consulting services that we use with clients across industries to bring an elevated and digital experience to one of the most iconic sporting events in the world,” he said.
Additionally, IBM is set to introduce ‘hole-by-hole player predictions’, leveraging Auto-AI capabilities to project each player’s score on each hole for the entire tournament.
Masters’ broadcaster, Amanda Renner, explained how the revolutionary technology optimises the broadcast experience for users: “AI and automation help the Masters’ digital team be more efficient and productive, quickly producing content that digital patrons really care about.”
Masters’ app users can access AI-assisted broadcasting of this year’s tournament through a player’s ‘Round in Three Minutes’, ‘MyGroup’, or ‘Scorecard’ options, alongside watching every shot on-demand with added-on AI commentary.
The competition continues this weekend from the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
