IBM and The All England Lawn Tennis Club launch new generative AI feature for personalized player stories at Wimbledon

• 'Catch Me Up' function – built and trained using IBM's Granite LLM, via the watsonx platform – helps fans stay informed about players across all women's and men's singles matches
• A new IBM survey shows that 55% of global tennis fans do this¹ respondents believe artificial intelligence (AI) will have a positive impact on sports

LONDON, June 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) and The All England Lawn Tennis Club today announced a new feature for the Wimbledon digital experience, using match data with generative AI of IBM's AI and data platform, watsonxto keep fans up to date on the world's most important players as they progress through the championships.

New 'Catch Me Up' feature shows pre- and post-match player cards with AI-generated player stories and analysis via wimbledon.com and the Wimbledon 2024 App. Player cards are personalized based on user preferences and data such as their location and location MineWimbledon profile, starting with their favorite players. The pre-match content includes analysis of recent performance and probability of winning predictions, and the post-match content includes key statistics and highlights. The feature also allows for longer daily summaries of the game.

'Catch Me Up' was built with IBM's Granite large language model (LLM) to deliver AI-generated text using the capabilities of the watsonx platform. The model is trained on the Wimbledon editorial style and will be monitored by the All England Club. The new feature is designed to help Wimbledon scale its content to both new and existing tennis fans worldwide, offering fans access to more timely, curated coverage of women's and men's singles matches that often take place simultaneously.

This year, Wimbledon will also use generative AI to provide coverage for a wider range of competitions than previously available, including wheelchair events, to provide more Wimbledon diverse international audience. This will form part of a redesigned digital competition center known as IBM Slamtracker, available on the Wimbledon app and wimbledon.com. Using generative AI built on watsonx, IBM Slamtracker has been enhanced to provide bullet point-based match previews and post-match reviews for women's and men's singles matches.

The majority of tennis fans are positive about AI

The announcement comes as new research from IBM and Morning Consult* shows that 55% of tennis fans surveyed worldwide believe AI will have a positive impact on the sport. When considering how generative AI could improve their experience, these respondents prioritized real-time updates (36%), personalized content (31%), and unique insights (30%).

About a third (31%) of tennis fans surveyed worldwide use multiple devices while watching sporting events, mainly to get more information, watch multiple matches at the same time and communicate with other fans. Moreover, almost half (47%) of them engage with additional content about tennis on a daily or weekly basis and consider summary and personalization as the two most important features of sports content.

Chris Clementshead of digital products at the All England Club, said: “We strive to provide fans with the highest quality Wimbledon experience, whether in person or digital. With generative AI, we can increase our ability to bring different types of content to fans wherever they are in the world in a way that is personalized to them. This year's new Catch Me Up feature makes it easier for fans to follow the key storylines unfolding during The Championships.”

Jonathan AdashekSenior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for IBM, said: “The new Catch Me Up feature is an exciting example of how we can use the power of generative AI to deliver compelling, insight-driven stories at scale. For 35 years, IBM and… Wimbledon have co-created solutions that help fans feel more connected to all the action on the pitch, and our new research confirms that they are beginning to understand the positive impact that technologies like generative AI can have on their digital experiences. IBM is also putting the same technologies from our Watsonx AI and data platform in the hands of customers around the world, in virtually every industry, to meet their unique business needs.”

Additional highlights from IBM and Morning Consult's research include:

The majority of tennis fans surveyed worldwide believe technology will have a positive impact on multiple aspects of the sport, for fans, coaches and players

• 60% of tennis fans surveyed believe technology will have a positive impact on driving fan engagement.
• More specifically, 75% of tennis fan respondents believe technology will have a positive impact on the advancement of training; game strategy (74%); coaching (71%); and talent identification and acquisition (66%).

Nearly a third of tennis fans surveyed worldwide use more than one device to watch multiple matches at once, get more information and communicate with other fans

• 24% of tennis fans surveyed use two devices; 5% report using three devices and 2% report using more than three devices simultaneously.
• 45% of tennis fans surveyed who use multiple devices do so to get more information while watching tennis; 32% do it to watch multiple matches at the same time; and 30% do this to communicate with other fans while watching a match.

More than a fifth of British sports fans surveyed use at least two devices simultaneously to consume sports

• 20% of British sports fans surveyed use two devices at the same time when watching sport, close to the global average of 22%.
• Surveyed sports fans between 18 and 29 years old Canada They are much more likely to use three or more devices at the same time when watching sport (21%), compared to 7% in the UK and a global average of 10%.
• In Britain, respondents cited multi-tasking (50%) and finding more information (41%) as the top reasons for sports consumption across multiple devices. 26% also said they use multiple devices to communicate with other fans.

The championships, Wimbledon will run away July 1-14, 2024. To see the technology in action, visit wimbledon.com or download the Wimbledon app on your mobile device, available from the App Store and Google Play Store.

Notes for editors

*Survey methodology
This research was conducted in May 2024 among a total sample of 18,082 sports fans aged 18 and older in the US, Canadathe UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Indiathe UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The interviews for each country were conducted online and the data is unweighted, with ~2,000 responses per US market. Canadathe UK, France, Germany, Italy, SpainAnd India and ~1,000 responses per market in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

To qualify for this survey, respondents must be at least an average sports fan and play one or more of the following sports: football, cricket, tennis, basketball, baseball, RugbyGolf, American football, F1 racing, athletics, swimming and the Olympic Games.

The full findings of this study will be published on June 26, 2024.

About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI and consulting expertise. We help customers in more than 175 countries benefit from insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain competitive advantage in their industries. More than 4,000 government and enterprise entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM and Red Hat OpenShift's hybrid cloud platform to achieve their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's groundbreaking innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting provide our customers with open and flexible options. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, accountability, inclusivity and service.

About Wimbledon
The championships, Wimbledon, is the oldest of the four tennis Grand Slams and the only one played on grass. Managed by the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and performed at the AELTC Grounds, Wimbledon has evolved from its origins as a private members' croquet club in 1868, to one of the world's largest annual sporting events and one of the most respected brands in the sport. Visit www.wimbledon.com and follow @wimbledon on all major social media platforms.

IBM media contact:
Gregor Hastings
+44 (0)7385946943
[email protected]

Wimbledon media contact:
Eloise Tyson
+44 (0)7771347932
[email protected]

SOURCE IBM