Adam Minter, Columnist

The Latest Assistant Coach Is an AI Chatbot

Sports celebrate human excellence, but now there’s too much data to analyze to determine potential mismatches on game day.

March 16, 2024 at 12:00 PM UTC

By Adam Minter

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of sports. He is the author, most recently, of “Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale."

From the AI chatbot to the clipboard.
Photographer: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images North America

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Imagine it’s crunch time at the end of the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. One team faces third-down and goal, five yards from a game-winning touchdown. On the sidelines, the head coach and his gut say run the ball, but he’s unsure where to send the running back. So, he turns to an assistant coach and asks: “When you spoke to our AI chatbot this morning, what did it think we should do in this scenario?”

For sports purists, the scenario is unthinkable. Sports are supposed to celebrate human excellence, after all. But whether they like it or not, artificial intelligence is joining games on and off the field. Some teams are already utilizing it, and more will join them if only to keep up.