The Australian Open wants to use AI to generate simulated lip movements of Novak Djokovic and his fellow tennis professionals for multilingual marketing, syncing them with computer-produced voices already replicating the audio tone and pitch of players.
The foray to embrace artificial intelligence was described as “creeping me out” by one tennis commentator during the tournament’s official “demo day” on Friday.
The showcase highlighted the efforts of Tennis Australia (TA) to build audiences and revenue through the pursuit of tech innovation and investment in startups.
TA’s head of innovation, Machar Reid, says although the players have not consented to the mimicking of their voices, they will be consulted when the technology begins making tweaks to their image.
“Hopefully you’re creating win-wins, where the content’s more consumable for a fan, but then in return the brand, or the player themselves, they’re also cutting through into more media, into more markets in a way that helps them to grow their own profiles as well,” Reid says.
Reid played a video of Djokovic that is already live on YouTube and sounds like the world No 1 speaking, but is in Spanish.
“The priority is that it makes sense, second priority that it sounds like him,” Reid says. “Third priority is that lips are actually synced to what’s coming out of his mouth, which will come with the benefit of AI in time.”
Tennis commentator and host of the event, Nick McCarvel, was taken aback by the demo. “That’s creeping me out,” he says.
The Djokovic demo is one example (the Serb has previously spoken Spanish in press conferences), and there are already several videos on the Australian Open’s YouTube channel using the technology, including videos mimicking the distinctive voices of Coco Gauff and Daniil Medvedev.
These “dubs” are created by UAE-based company Camb.AI, part of the 2024 intake in the Australian Open’s startup program, and are being delivered in under 12 hours during the tournament.
The TA team has taken steps to minimise the risk that the translated words they are attributing to the players could cause controversy.
“Players are obviously very protective of their image and how they are being portrayed,” says TA head of original content, Xavier Muhlebach.
“For the moment, we actually also put English subtitles up that actually refer to exactly what they say from our transcripts, so there is no risk of misinterpreting when it crosses that language divide.”
Reid says the team plans to consult with players as the project continues.
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“The focus there has been in the translation of audio in particular, with the future to look at ‘okay, from an image point of view, how do you improve the fidelity?’,” Reid says.
“I think at that kind of intersection is when you start that consultative process, in and around ‘now we’re amending the image of someone’, which can be sensitive again, so you engage in that.”
TA chief executive and Australian Open director, Craig Tiley, defended the financial health of the tournament two weeks ago, after it received tens of millions of dollars in Victorian government subsidies in the past three years.
TA – which operates the Australian Open – has an in-house innovation program, and collaborates with startups with a view towards potentially investing in them through their venture capital arm.
It has already invested in Israeli AI video analysis business Minute.ly and Californian ball tracking startup SwingVision.
Reid says the push into technology was part of making the Australian Open the best tournament possible, for fans and players.
“Technology is such an instrumental part of what we do from a fan point of view, and we essentially want to try and elevate that and accelerate it in such a way that it benefits the player and the fan,” Reid says.
“So in that sense, they’re symbiotic. Hopefully, the rising tide lifts all boats, and everyone benefits as a result.”
