The company behind the world’s first artificial intelligence football chatbot has predicted it could one day replace football commentators.
Cubee Technology has developed the product, called AIBALL, which uses natural language processing and deep learning to understand fan questions and grow more intelligent over time.
It will be available via iOS and Android apps ahead of this summer’s FIFA World Cup, to answer a variety of football-related questions, ranging from explaining the rules of the game to detailed stats and anecdotes about players.
The app has access to detailed player information, match data and the latest social media news, which it can provide to users in the form of audio, images, articles, videos, animations and charts.
Over time, AIBALL will memorise users’ favourite teams and players. Cubee suggests this technology might one day see AIBALL replace traditional football commentators.
“The job of a football commentator or pundit is becoming more difficult in recent years as fans’ demands become more sophisticated,” Cubee said. “Traditional ‘one-to-many’ modes of communication like TV commentary hasn’t changed much over the last few decades, but its days are numbered. It will eventually be replaced by something that can meet the personal requirements of each fan, and AIBALL is the first step down to this path. Fans can now get the information they want directly, in an easily understood format, and they don’t need to search online by their own anymore.”
