THE FUTURE IS HERE?

AI Could Replace Line Judges at Wimbledon

The U.S. Open and the Australian Open have already switched to using cameras to track the ball and determine where it lands.

The ball is now in artificial intelligence’s court. Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world, may scrap its tradition of having blue blazer-clad line judges call the shots and instead replace them with AI technology, The Guardian reported. While tournament director Jamie Baker told the newspaper the tournament was “not making any decisions at this point,” he said it is always looking for ways to “change and innovate.” “We are constantly trying to balance the parts of our heritage that are absolutely sacred, absolutely worth protecting, because half a million people come here every year and it’s a big part of their experience and value,” Baker said. “But there are also other parts of our heritage that don’t actually carry the same value [as] in the past.” The U.S. Open and the Australian Open have already switched to using cameras to track the ball and determine where it lands, but Wimbledon and the French Open have yet to make the leap. This year, Wimbledon unveiled AI-generated commentary for some of its matches, trial running it in the app’s highlights videos.