Amazon Using AI To Make Watching Football Worse

The idea behind Amazon’s new AI tools is to raise the audience’s football knowledge. This is done through on-screen graphics that use the technology to predict what kind of scheme the defense might use, what players might be important, and where there are likely to be big plays on the field. These are shown by highlighting players with red rings, on-screen text, or big boxes on the field.

The actual result of Amazon’s AI tools is an increasingly cluttered football screen full of graphics that are more distracting than informative. Football is a chaotic sport, with 22 players moving all at once, which is already a lot of visual information to follow. Fortunately, most of the graphics are only used before plays, but even highlighting a few defensive players with red rings is a major distraction amid so many moving bodies. 

On-screen graphics aren’t new in football, but they used to be more integrated into the broadcast. The commentators used to comment on players or areas of the field being circled, explaining why they were being highlighted and providing context. With Amazon automating those graphics via AI, the commentators don’t usually comment on the graphics, which removes their context and makes the graphics feel removed from the rest of the football broadcast. 

The commentators are also responsible for explaining Amazon’s AI tools to the football audience, which is a job they often seem poorly prepared to do. Despite hearing it explained in multiple football games, I didn’t understand why defensive players were highlighted beyond being more likely to blitz until I read an article about the technology. Complex machine learning and predictive technology have to be boiled down to a single sentence, which makes them seem misleading unless you go out of your way to learn more.

Amazon has put the technology to more productive use behind the scenes, so while the AI tools shown to audiences during games are doing more harm than good, it’s revolutionizing football. The technology has been used to analyze ways to reduce the risk of traumatic brain injuries and give coaches more nuanced game data. It’s clear that the new technology has a place in football; that place isn’t on screen in the middle of a game. 

Overall, I’m still glad to see football on a streaming service like Amazon, but the AI tools have made it a noticeably worse experience. The urge to add something new and exciting to games is a misunderstanding of what fans want, which is to watch games live without paying for yet another high-priced streaming service. Covering the screen in predictive graphics isn’t making more informed fans; it’s making more distracted fans and less engaging broadcasts.