Who among us didn’t lie awake at night during Olympics past, wishing for a personalized recap of the day’s events read in the dulcet tones of legendary sports broadcaster Al Michaels? Finally, our moment arrived. Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock will let you select your favorite sports and highlights for the 2024 Summer Olympics, and AI-powered Michaels will read a personalized 10-minute recap of the previous day’s events based on your selections.
Michaels said he was understandably reluctant when NBC asked him for his approval, but eventually came around to the AI-powered vision. “When I was approached about it, I was skeptical, but obviously interested,” the Hall of Fame broadcaster said. “Then I saw a demonstration that explained what they were thinking. I said, ‘I am.'”
Peacock shared a demo of one of the replays with Engadget, and it’s easy to see why the Hall of Fame broadcaster is coming. You’d be hard-pressed to tell the AI-generated speech from Michaels’ real voice. Even the subtle rhythms and intonations of the clone resemble him.
NBCUniversal says it trained AI Al on Michaels’ past appearances on NBC. The 79-year-old expert is currently calling play-by-play Amazon’s Thursday Night Football and has an honorary role at NBC Sports, where he has worked since 2006.
Peacock’s replays will take what it says will be 5,000 hours of live coverage from this summer’s games. They will simultaneously cover up to 40 Olympic events daily and have the potential for “around 7 million personalized options.”
NBCUniversal says its editors will review all personalized content, including audio and clips, before sending it to users. If enough people sign up, it sounds like quite the job. But it is given embarrassing mistakes we’ve seen AI tricks done before, so this is probably a wise choice.
You can tune in to recaps starting July 27, when the first edition will wrap up the previous day’s Opening Ceremony. The 2024 Summer Olympics begin on July 26 in Paris. Once the torch is lit, you can sign up for replays Peacock’s Olympics site (supports Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge) and on the Peacock mobile app.
