Hello World.
I’m Imagination.
In this video, I’m going to talk about how an AI Camera Mistakes Soccer Ref’s Bald Head For Ball. Technology and sports have a fairly mixed relationship already. Log on to Twitter during a soccer match (or football as it’s properly known• and as well as people tweeting ambiguous statements like “YESSS” and “oh no mate” to about 20,000 inexplicable retweets, you’ll likely see a lot of complaints about the video assistant referee (VAR) and occasionally goal-line technology not doing its job. Fans of Scottish football team Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC experienced a new hilarious technological glitch during a match last weekend, but in all honesty, you’d be hard-pressed to say it didn’t improve the viewing experience dramatically.
The club announced a few weeks ago it was moving from using human camera operators to cameras controlled by AI. The club proudly announced at the time the new “Pixellot system uses cameras with in-built, AI, ball-tracking technology” and would be used to capture HD footage of all home matches at Caledonian Stadium, which would be broadcast directly to season-ticket holders’ homes. The AI camera appeared to mistake the man’s bald head for the ball for a lot of the match, repeatedly swinging back to follow the linesman instead of the actual game. Many viewers complained they missed their team scoring a goal because the camera “kept thinking the Lino bald head was the ball,” and some even suggested the club would have to provide the linesman with a toupe or hat.