With AI being heavily used for everyday common tasks, it’s interesting to think about how it could be employed in the future of sports. Nowadays, real-time data analysis can instantly show how far a player has thrown a ball, how fast a pitcher has thrown a ball over the plate, and the acceleration speed of a running back.
Professional sports teams also use artificial intelligence to help manage player workloads and identify talent to pick up in the draft. The predictive and rapid processing power of AI can also provide coaching teams with predictive models of opponents.
Fans have also seen the tech integrated into the way they get info about their favourite sports. Personalised content has enhanced fan engagement and broadcasting experience, as fans can enjoy intriguing analytics given in real time, like the NFL’s Next Gen stats.
Sports fans who like to bet often turn to AI tools to help predict match results, while bookmakers themselves use the same technology to fine-tune the odds. Across the wider gambling world, AI has become a key instrument for managing risks, tailoring promotions, and improving the player experience. For instance, many online casinos rely on it to personalise bonus offers — from deposit deals to free spins like the ones featured at https://legalcasino.uk/bonuses/free-spins-20/.
Taking Charge
In some instances, AI has also infiltrated positions of authority. Semi-automated offside technology (SOAT) decisions were introduced at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and now major soccer competitions, such as the English Premier League, use it. It’s a system that tracks a player’s limb movement and position on the pitch. It also tracks the ball through an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor, which relays data on when it was kicked. SOAT is designed to give more accurate offside decisions than human officials can make in a split second.
Moving to the Octagon?
There’s no clear road yet to AI actually officiating a soccer match or running an NFL game. But it had been tested in boxing. The heavyweight boxing rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury in December 2024 had an AI judge working in the background. Importantly, the system’s recordings weren’t part of the official result.
The AI judge scored the fight 118-112 for Usyk, while all three judges who were sitting ringside scored it 116-112 for the same fighter. There was a discrepancy, and during the first and last rounds of the fight, it scored 10-10, which rarely happens.
The interesting thing is not knowing whether the AI Judge outperformed the others, as its scores were based on actual fight data, eliminating factors such as the work rate of the fighters and volume of punches. But can AI UFC judges potentially make more accurate, definitive calls on points decisions?
Eliminating Human Error
The primary reason for introducing AI into something is to cut down on human error, as with the case of SOAT in soccer. It is not going to get caught up in the emotions surrounding a match and only focus on metrics that provide feedback designed to produce a result.
Humans are naturally biased. Even UFC judges, deep down, will have their favourite styles of fighting, maybe even nationality or a preference for one fighter’s personality over another. They could subconsciously get swept up in the emotions of the crowd, who think that a big contact from a punch was made, but it was actually ineffective.
AI will only see data and view it through a set of predefined criteria. There wouldn’t be any bias, and it would naturally focus on aspects such as effective striking and grappling. But where does it stop? Would it need to consider how well a fighter controls the octagon, or who is the greater aggressor, factors which are far more challenging to judge?
AI models could track the movements of the fighters and count effective strikes, gathering instant data on power and speed. Takedowns could be tracked the same way, as well as reversals and the effectiveness of submission attempts, potentially surpassing the human capabilities of the judges’ eyes.
The Potential Is There
The UFC hasn’t gone down the AI judge route yet, but as the boxing experiment showed, it’s possible with the right training, which would probably need some pretty big oversight from expert human input.
The counterargument is that factors such as aggression, octagon control and work rate should be factored into the scoring of a fight. AI couldn’t measure the willpower and determination of a fighter during a bout, or interpret a situation where a fighter is injured and has to change to more defensive tactics.
The greater argument, however, is that sport is human; that it needs the human element because that is what makes for the drama, and judges’ decisions, right or wrong, often play into the cultural fabric of the UFC. AI judges may, down the line, be more accurate with their soulless approach, but would UFC fans want that?
