Formula 1 and Amazon Aim for AI-Powered ‘Personalized’ Race Viewing

  • Spanish Grand Prix sees F1 and AWS use more AI in broadcast
  • F1 broadcast and media director says ‘passive’ TV isn’t enough

Max Verstappen competes in the qualification session during the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix.

Photographer: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images
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At the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, Formula 1 plans to debut a new artificial intelligence “Statbot” with Amazon.com Inc., whose executives described plans for AI-powered personalized broadcasts to keep viewers hooked.

The statbot will trawl race archives and parse torrents of real-time racing data to feed context and trivia to broadcast presenters live during the Barcelona race, using technology from the Seattle-based company’s Amazon Web Services cloud computing division, said Neil Ralph, the tech company’s lead on technical collaboration with F1.