It is July 2024, which means you are probably watching the Olympic Games. But have you thought about how it made it to your screen?
With more than 200 countries participating in over 1000 events across summer and winter, the Olympic and Paralympic games are the most watched and recognised global sporting event in the world.
Paris 2024 has already been hailed as a digitally transformed Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been steadfastly focused on transforming sports from all areas, whilst staying true to 2,800-year-old Olympic values.
This included the announcement of its first Olympic AI Agenda in April 2024, as it seeks to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can power greater insights for athletes, broadcasters and viewers around the world.
Supporting in these efforts is Deloitte, a UK-based multinational consulting firm that is committed to exploring new technologies. AI Magazine spoke with some leading executives involved in the partnership about what these innovations mean for the 2024 Olympics, as well as the possibilities of AI and digital transformation for future games.
“AI is disrupting the sports ecosystem”
One of the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms, Deloitte is a Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner. It holds a global team to deliver meaningful impact to the IOC, International Paralympic Committee (IPC), National Olympic Committees, fans and athletes who make the games possible.
The firm is using its global scale, deep insights and understanding of innovation to track the impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, present and future.
“Like so many other industries, AI is disrupting the sports ecosystem,” comments Kevin Walsh, Managing Partner, Deloitte North and South Europe. “We’re looking into areas such as sustainability and athletes who are transitioning out of their careers.”
John Tweardy, Managing Partner, Olympic & Major Events Practice, adds: “The categories that we possess for Paris 2024 are around digital transformation, digital strategy, sustainability, athletes and areas of games learning.”
The firm seeks to use its extensive environmental, social and governance (ESG) services expertise to assist the IOC on critical challenges identified in the Olympic Agenda 2020-2025. These are related to corporate governance, strategy, sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and athlete support and well-being.
One of the other areas that Deloitte is placing its focus is AI and the intersection of this digital transformation with sustainability moving forward.
“We are pleased to help facilitate the process with the IOC to develop the AI Agenda,” says Lou DiLorenzo, US AI & Data Strategy Practice Leader at Deloitte. “We made sure we brought the best and most diverse perspectives from academia and from top partners. That’s a facilitated process to make sure that we’re working through, with the IOC: What are the core themes? How does it line up with their focus areas? How does it line up with their unique responsibility in the world?”
Digital engagement: Transforming the global viewing experience
As sport is personal to the individual, Deloitte is currently advising on the IOC’s business strategy using digital transformation consulting capabilities to create new possibilities for personalised fan engagement.
“There’s a lot of things we are doing with the IOC that will be behind the scenes as they release new functionality to the world,” John says, “and one of those is around marketing and fan engagement.”
The fan data platform is intended to deliver personalised activations, including informing fans of upcoming moments, updates and highlights, in addition to personalised video content, campaigns and promotions. By helping the IOC develop its fan data platform strategy, Deloitte aims to support the IOC’s goal of empowering people to immerse themselves in content that inspires them, with the end goal of customising each fan’s digital journey and enabling them to focus on the sports they love and the athletes they follow.
“The IOC can now engage in intentional marketing to a fan of a particular sport. Then, from the top ecosystem, they can work with their partners and help the ecosystem gain more value, making them more precise.
“You don’t want to get information that’s generic, you want to get information that is tailored to you.”
All these efforts are to keep viewers engaged, as John explains. Likewise, the delivery of the digital backbone for future games will need to be innovative, which Deloitte feels empowered to deliver.
“We have a broader category scope that includes cybersecurity and technology and everything integrated into that. That’s the way forward,” John says.
The evolving use of enterprise AI in sports
Moving towards a digital future, Deloitte and the IOC are keen to continue their partnership to take a lasting legacy and transition it into some of the most transformative technologies today.
When it comes to AI, the firm is focused on mitigating possible risks associated with the technology, including trust and data bias.
“I think one of our roles is the convener of this ecosystem at the heart,” John says. “We can provide strategic direction and leverage some ‘outside-in’ thinking because our portfolio is also non-sports. At the intersection of traditional sports and the digital future, we can create and co-create some really powerful innovation.
“We see ourselves as a catalyst for transformation over the next decade. You can talk about AI, but the proof is really in the illustration of its power.”
Deloitte is working with the IOC to not only drive AI use cases for the Olympic Games, but also to imagine how the technology can improve referee insights, sports equipment maintenance and athlete performance. This can be extended to the wider business landscape, as organisations explore how their AI uses can be more predictive and inspire improved decision-making.
“What we are seeing at Deloitte is large Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies thinking about AI for optimisation,” John says.
Lou highlights: “For enterprises in general, what you’re going to see is significant activity around AI, whether you’re a product company or a technology provider. They’re working to build those capabilities for themselves and for their customers.”
He explains that the IOC’s AI Agenda approach is meaningful because it made choices about what was important.
“In an ecosystem that continues to see progress and change, what matters is how to harness and integrate those capabilities to focus and deliver on what matters,” he says. “Going forward, one of the most important capabilities is going to be modularity, flexibility and agility to integrate different capabilities and different providers of those capabilities as an enterprise.
“Flexibility is going to allow a lasting impact in a world where technology continues to move at an increasing level of innovation and pace.”
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