The case of AI in sport: some ethical concerns at play

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently burst into sport, but it already plays an important role. It is assumed that AI will become a decisive driver of change in sport in the coming years. Indeed, AI’s revolution in sport is already underway by the gradual replacement of humans by AI and high-tech systems, as is happening in refereeing and coaching. There are many benefits that AI can provide to sport, such as training improvement, assisted coaching, doping monitoring, injury prevention and so on. However, AI applications in sport are not without risk. Among them, the manipulation of athletes and competition are probably the most pressing. This paper is aimed at distinguishing among different AI uses in sport suggesting a normative and ethical framework that leads to an adequate use of AI in sport and consistent with the human values with which the Olympic Movement is committed.