Al Michaels AI Clone to Voice Olympic Highlights During 2024 Paris Games

Legendary sportscaster Al Michaels will be making a digital appearance at the 2024 Paris Olympics. NBCUniversal's streaming platform, Peacock, will use an AI-generated version of Michaels' iconic voice to narrate highlights packages.

This virtual version of the Hall of Fame announcer will narrate “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” providing viewers with personalized highlights of action from the games.

The AI voice clone was trained on Michaels’ previous commentary and NBCUniversal says it “matches his signature expertise and elocution.”

“When I was approached about this, I was skeptical but obviously curious,” Michaels said. “Then I saw a demonstration detailing what they had in mind. I said, ‘I’m in.’”

Available to Peacock subscribers starting July 27, the daily recaps feature provides fans with personalized highlights of their choice of events, all generated from NBCUniversal’s 5,000 hours of live coverage.

NBCUniversal says as many as 7 million personalized highlights packages will be streamed during the Olympic Games.

Each Daily Recap is approximately 10 minutes long, with a cloned version of Michaels’ voice providing an overview of action which is set to include for the first time, events among iconic Paris landmarks including beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower and equestrian at the Palace of Versailles.

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NBCUniversal said a team of editors will review audio and video clips for quality and accuracy before the highlights are available to users.

Daily Recaps will be available through web browsers and the Peacock app on iOS devices. Up to six users on one Peacock account can each have personalized highlights packages and receive push notifications reminding them to watch.

In addition to AI-generated highlights packages, NBCUniversal is also offering Live Actions, an interactive tool that lets fans map out their viewing schedule throughout the games, and Discovery Multiview will provide viewers with the option of watching multiple events at once.

“Peacock continues to introduce unique customer-first features that strengthen our unmatched leadership in live streaming,” said Kelly Campbell, president of Peacock and direct-to-consumer at NBCUniversal. “With these recaps alongside interactive elements like Peacock Live Actions and Discovery Multiview, we’re bringing the best of sports together with the best of technology to deliver fans a personalized Olympics experience in a way that’s never been possible before.”

This story first appeared in IoT World Today's sister publication AI Business.

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