At Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, Formula 1 plans to roll out its new artificial intelligence “Statbot” and Amazon.com Inc., whose executives have outlined plans for personalized AI-powered broadcasts to keep viewers engrossed.
The statbot will pull race archives and dissect real-time race data to provide context and trivia to broadcast presenters live during the Barcelona race, using technology from the Seattle-based company, Amazon Web Services cloud computing division, said Neil Ralph, of technology. the company’s lead in technical cooperation with F1.
It’s a sign of how AI is entering the media, and how F1’s owner, Liberty Media Corp., is hunting for ways to keep fans glued to their screens.
Headed by billionaire cable magnate John C. Malone, Liberty bought F1 from CVC Capital Partners in a deal announced in 2016. Since then, it has focused on expanding the sport’s global appeal, growing its audience with marketing bets like Netflix behind the scenes. Inc. documentary series Formula 1: Drive to Survive.
But in an engineering-heavy game, whose protagonists are hidden behind helmets, managers are looking for ways to improve live racing coverage. The companies say they are using AI to provide race predictions on issues like pit-stop timing or when a driver might try to overtake a rival, based on real-time data like car performance and tire wear.
“With this data and proximity to the fans, you can imagine a more personal experience,” said AWS Canada Managing Director Eric Gales in an interview at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in early June.
Ralph said: “That’s where we want it to go, so you as a fan can choose how much data you see and what stories you want to be told.”
Competing with other games, streaming shows, TikTok and video games, the battle for attention has never been so intense. While F1 has expanded its reach in the US with Netflix series and new races like the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the sport still seems at times too predictable. Last year, F1’s top driver, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, won 19 of 22 races; this year he won six out of nine.
“We can’t just rely on giving them experience,” said Dean Locke, F1’s director of broadcasting and media, speaking to reporters in Montreal from the team’s media and technology center in Biggin Hill, UK.
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