In the course of the 2024 Summer season Olympics in Paris, 5G and 4K have been the main applied sciences obtainable to many viewers. There was some AI, but it surely was principally used for athletes’ profit. For the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games there will likely be extra know-how than ever, for each athletes and followers.
A lot of that know-how has by no means been used on the Video games earlier than, says Yiannis Exarchos, the managing director of Olympic Broadcasting Companies and government director of Olympic Channel Companies. The 2 organizations are accountable for producing a lot of the tv, radio, and digital protection, and content material on Olympics.com. “In Milano Cortina, individuals may have unprecedented experiences,” Exarchos says.
Right here’s all the pieces you’ll want to know.
New Applied sciences on the 2026 Winter Olympics
Drone Views of Athlete Performances
One of many large applied sciences coming to the Milano Cortina Olympics are first-person view, or FPV, drones. These radio-controlled plane transmit photos from their onboard cameras in actual time to “provide dynamic views on the race tracks,” Exarchos explains.
This 12 months’s Video games can even be the primary to supply 360-degree real-time replay. Provided as a part of a collaboration with Alibaba, the system makes use of multi-camera replay techniques and stoboscopic evaluation to ofter multi-angle views, freeze frames, and slow-motion photos of athlete’s unbelievable strikes.
One other first is a brand new monitoring system for curling stones. “It is going to be doable to view the trail, velocity, and rotation of every stone in actual time,” Exarchos explains. Suspended rail cameras and ice-level views will assist viewers perceive the sport higher, as will detailed stone trajectory graphics and real-time information.
The Olympics’ New AI Instrument: Olympic GPT
Obtained a query about this 12 months’s Video games? Olympic GPT is right here to assist. The bot focuses on producing content material for the Olympics.com web site. It’ll provide real-time outcomes and data on sport laws, and, for the primary time, may have the power to work together with questions in regards to the outcomes of ongoing competitions.
“Synthetic-intelligence-based article summaries on Olympics.com will give followers a fast and clear overview,” Exarchos says. “They spotlight key factors to assist customers determine what to discover additional, whereas additionally bettering accessibility and studying from cell gadgets.”
Digital Video Manufacturing
For the 2026 Winter Olympic Video games, numerous the video manufacturing will likely be transferring to the cloud. Digital outdoors broadcasting (OB) vans will assist decentralize the method of getting photos from occasions to followers’ screens. Utilizing digital cloud infrastructure, organizers say, helps cut back power consumption by some 50 % and allows distant manufacturing for occasions like curling and velocity skating.
All the pieces will likely be managed via a completely cloud-based grasp management room just lately examined on the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in January. There, house financial savings have been 75 % over the earlier championship, whereas power consumption was diminished by 65 %.
The Olympics’ Huge Information Second
For this winter’s Video games, Olympic Broadcasting Companies can also be testing an automatic description platform to assist groups handle the large quantity of video coming in stay throughout their occasions. “Synthetic intelligence breaks down broadcasts into searchable clips, suggests shot descriptions and key phrases, and helps customers rapidly discover highlights, making storytelling quicker and simpler,” says Exarchos. AI will then analyze real-time visitors spikes on Olympics.com and determine essentially the most beneficial moments for followers.
This story initially appeared in WIRED Italia. It has been translated from Italian.
