NBC to Feature AI-Powered Al Michaels for Olympic Recaps
NBC will bring a unique twist to its Summer Olympics coverage by utilizing an artificial intelligence version of renowned sportscaster Al Michaels’ voice for daily recaps.
On Wednesday, NBC announced that it will use AI software to recreate Michaels’ voice to deliver recaps for subscribers of its Peacock streaming platform. This initiative marks a significant milestone in the use of AI by a major media company.
The AI-powered voice will be part of a new feature called “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” which will provide 10-minute highlight packages. These packages will include event updates, athlete backstories, and other content personalized based on subscriber preferences.
The AI system is expected to generate these recaps efficiently, potentially creating up to 7 million different highlight packages from 5,000 hours of live coverage from the Paris Olympics.
“When I was approached about this, I was skeptical but obviously curious,” Michaels said in a press release. “Then I saw a demonstration detailing what they had in mind. I said, ‘I’m in.’” NBC confirmed that Michaels will be compensated for his involvement in this innovative project.
Michaels, known for his iconic calls during previous Olympic Games broadcasts for NBC and ABC, including the famous Miracle on Ice Game at the 1980 Winter Olympics, is currently the play-by-play sportscaster for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime.
NBC said the AI system was trained using prior broadcast audio from Michaels. A team of NBC Sports editors will review all content, including audio and clips, to ensure factual accuracy and correct pronunciation of names.
The AI-generated highlights tool will be available on Peacock via web browsers and iOS and iPadOS apps starting July 27.
