Businesses are using data more than ever. Data collection is even affecting how your office is run, influencing its heating, lighting, and air. However, as is to be expected, some industries have been impacted by AI more than others…
Sports
In football, data is informing tactics, player management, training and recovery, as well as player recruitment. Dan Pelchen, analyst for Premier League club Chelsea, told The Athletic FC podcast that clubs are “using [data] quite heavily from a recruitment perspective.”
Data informs which players clubs buy and sell. Clubs were “using all these statistics in terms of the numbers that are available to [them]”, and Pelchen’s company Traits Insights takes “the granular statistics, the raw statistics, and [derives] other numbers from it.” Companies such as Traits aim to provide data to clubs “in plain football language.”
It’s not just teams and professionals that are seeking more data: sports fans are growing accustomed to data playing a large part in what they read, listen to, and watch.
Sports lovers and bettors now have access to a wide range of betting markets, including in-game opportunities. Thanks to cross-platform and second screen betting, platforms are offering customers a more immersive experience.
On the other side of those platforms, bookmakers are using sports data providers to inform their odds. Betting companies want to stand out in a competitive industry, and algorithms and AI are helping them to analyse data and make predictions.
Music
Rolling Stone India reported that the “digital revolution has completely transformed the music industry, giving artists more power than ever before.”
When listeners interact with their music through platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, every touch is recorded, giving artists the kind of understanding they could never have imagined even just two decades ago. Artists are now aware of which songs are most popular in specific locations, the various listening trends, and how fans’ preferences are changing over time.
The streaming services and online platforms themselves are using data for recommendation and more personalised listening experiences.
Catered playlists such as Spotify’s Discover Weekly and Release Radar, as well its radio function (where a listener chooses a song on which to base a ‘radio’ playlist), offer music fans tailor-made listening.
Spotify Wrapped, an annual feature where listeners get insights such as their most listened to songs, most loved artists and total listening times. Last year the feature included listening “characters” (you were a “Roboticist” if you relied on algorithms to choose your listening). The feature is so loved that it has become a standout event on music fans’ calendars, and countless Wrappeds are shared on social media every year.
Last year, critic Alexis Petridis rallied against what he called “a marketing exercise”, and marvelled at how the company has turned “what’s essentially a bit of automated data-scraping into a global event.”
Cinema and TV
Last year, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) went on strike for 118 days.
Film shoots were on hold, and cinemas and streaming platforms’ plans were thrown up in the air. Hollywood was waiting to resume full production between May and November.
Actors, as well as writers under the Writers Guild of America, were striking over fair wages, the shares of profits from streaming, and the use of AI.
Actors were concerned about who would own their likenesses if they were to be reproduced by AI, with stars such as George Clooney and Brian Cox adding their voices to the protests.
The Saf-Aftra president, Fran Drescher, had said, “At some point you have to say no: we are not going to take this anymore.” And, while the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said it had offered “a groundbreaking AI proposal”, writers and actors were unconvinced.
Sag-Aftra’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said, “They proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get one day’s pay, and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity on any project they want, with no consent and no compensation. So if you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.”
In December last year, that November agreement was formalised. The Guardian reported, “Under the new agreement, studios cannot create a digital replica of an actor without first obtaining their consent, and actors will receive payment based on the type of work the digital replica performs on-screen. The contract provides protections for background performers so that their digital replicas cannot be used without consent.”