Google's Gemini AI to Enhance NBC's Coverage of 2024 Paris Olympics

Google is using the Paris Olympics to showcase its Gemini AI. Here's how

Millions of Americans are set to watch the Paris Olympics on NBC starting on July 26, and Google is jumping on this chance to show off its AI tools. The tech giant announced on Thursday a new partnership with NBCUniversal and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Google will serve as Team USA's official search AI partner, the sports non-profit's first ever collaboration with a tech company. Throughout the Olympics, commentators on NBC will be using Google's Gemini AI to enhance (or at least attempt to enhance) their coverage. Here the four ways Google is taking over NBC's broadcast of the Paris Olympics.

This is how Google has managed to incorporate its AI into the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris - Softonic

Google will remind everyone of all the AI tools they have during the Paris Olympic Games Google has been named the official sponsor of artificial intelligence for the United States team, and when the broadcast of the 2024 Olympic Games begins on July 26, they will remind you of it frequently. When you spend several hundred million dollars sponsoring an event, you want people to know about it. The broadcast will include 3D views of Google Maps of places like Versailles, the Roland Garros stadium, and the Aquatic Center, as well as information about the events that will take place at each location. The images come from the immersive views added to Google Maps in recent years, which represent certain places and points of interest with photorealistic models. As part of the agreement to promote Google's artificial intelligence, Gemini, and other Google artificial intelligence tools, the announcers and commentators will present Google Search artificial intelligence summaries in the broadcast segments, attempting to answer questions about the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Between this and the AI-generated recaps by Al Michaels, we hope everything goes better than the last time we asked Google how to make a pizza, since glue and screws are not very digestible. In addition, comedian Leslie Jones will ask Gemini to help her learn a new sport, among other scheduled activities, while five Olympic and Paralympic athletes will appear in 'social videos and nighttime promotions' using Gemini, Google Lens, Circle to Search, and Google Maps Immersive View to explore Paris.

Paris Olympics to Feature Google's Gemini AI on Live TV: What Could Go Wrong?

Google seemingly hopes to differentiate itself from others by being a sort of Every(wo)man's AI. A recent Gemini ad campaign titled "No Wrong Way to Prompt" shows people asking routine questions as they go about their day. And now, Google is taking its message to the global stage as the "Official Search AI Partner of Team USA" at the Paris Olympics. The search giant likely wants people to forget the glitchy rollout of AI Overviews on Google.com in May, which kicked off a social media frenzy as Gemini advised someone to put glue on pizza, said a dog had played in the NBA (Air Bud perhaps?), and misidentified a poisonous mushroom as safe eat. The list of ridiculous responses goes on and on; entire Twitter threads were dedicated to asking obscure questions and seeing what the new AI had to say. In Google's defense, it was hard to know if some of these responses were Photoshopped. "Many of the examples we've seen have been uncommon queries, and we've also seen examples that were doctored or that we couldn't reproduce," a Google spokesperson said via email at the time. "We conducted extensive testing before launching this new experience." Still, Google removed inaccurate responses, blaming them on so-called "data voids." Google CEO Sundar Pichai also tried to reset consumer expectations, noting that large language models powering chatbots "aren't necessarily the best approach to get at factuality." He argued that hallucinations are a feature (not a bug) that makes them more creative. But now, Google seems confident enough in Gemini and AI Overviews to add them to the primetime Olympic lineup. Through a deal with NBCUniversal, which has exclusive rights to Olympics coverage, NBC reporters and commentators will incorporate Google's AI products into their coverage to "enhance the viewing experience for fans of all ages," according to Dan Lovinger, president of Olympic and Paralympic partnerships at NBCUniversal. Will Gemini earn a gold medal or get disqualified? Google is probably not leaving anything to chance; expect what we see at home to be as tightly choreographed as Simone Biles' floor routine and not entirely representative of the everyday user experience. It is an ad campaign, after all. Google is playing it safe by limiting reporters' questions to a custom-built "Explain the Games" AI search experience, rather than giving newscasters the freedom to search the entire internet on live TV. From the sound of it, "Explain the Games" is a limited AI model trained on the athletes' backstories and the nuances of the sports, "like the importance of lane assignments in swimming." Commentator and comedian Leslie Jones will do a bit with Google Gemini, asking the chatbot questions "to satisfy her many Paris Games and Team USA curiosities," Google says. Another campaign will feature five Olympians and Paralympians roaming Paris and using Google Lens, Circle to Search, and other AI products to learn about the city. Sadly, all of the above will likely be pre-recorded and scrubbed by PR before reaching us at home, rather than live demos that would really put these new AI products to the test. Simple question-and-answer demos also do not showcase some of the more advanced, compelling uses of AI, like instantly generating data tables or summarizing data in a large PDF. That's where AI can be most useful and differentiate itself from Google's legacy search experience. But even in this tightly controlled format, Google's deal with the Olympics will bring Gemini to an audience beyond developers at I/O, AI early adopters, and tech reporters. For Google, the best-case scenario is a spike in traffic as viewers take Gemini for a spin. It just needs to steer clear of corny, canned AI demos.

YouTube TV subscribers will get front-row seats to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

In the US, viewers will be able to check out new AI-powered Search, Google Maps, and Gemini tools in action on NBCUniversal's coverage. Google is making it easier for you to keep up with the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It has announced a partnership with the official broadcasters to bring Olympic content and highlights to YouTube. In a recent blog post, the company said that official broadcasters will livestream events and the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies on their YouTube channels in select markets. In the US, YouTube TV subscribers will be able to follow NBCUniversal's live coverage on the platform and utilize the multiview feature to watch up to four streams at the same time. Additionally, Google TV is getting a new Olympics hub in the "For you" tab that will collate streams and highlights from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. This tab will be available starting July 26, and it will include live events from official broadcasters' channels, official highlights, and behind-the-scenes interviews and stories. Google has also partnered with the US Olympic team and NBCUniversal to give viewers access to AI-powered features in Search, Google Maps, and Gemini to keep up with the Olympic coverage. The company says that NBCUniversal's daytime and primetime coverage will utilize Search's AI Overviews feature to give viewers a quick snapshot of sports and athletes. NBC's commentators will also use Gemini to offer insights and showcase 3D views of Olympic venues in Paris using Google Maps Platform's Photorealistic 3D Tiles. Viewers will also be able to try these features on their devices to keep up with the Olympic coverage.