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AI's Impact on Athlete Rights in Sports

The widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sports has the potential to undermine athlete rights and challenge the integrity of competition. While AI can improve health, performance, and engagement, it also raises concerns about privacy, inequality, and the exploitation of athletes, particularly children and women. There is a pressing need for ethical and legal frameworks to ensure that AI serves human values in sports rather than merely financial interests.

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4 views3 pages

AI's Impact on Athlete Rights in Sports

The widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sports has the potential to undermine athlete rights and challenge the integrity of competition. While AI can improve health, performance, and engagement, it also raises concerns about privacy, inequality, and the exploitation of athletes, particularly children and women. There is a pressing need for ethical and legal frameworks to ensure that AI serves human values in sports rather than merely financial interests.

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hellfire2855
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

[Link]

org/news/artificial-intelligence-in-sport-can-potentially-
undermine-athlete-rights/#:~:text=The%20fast%20and%20uncontrolled%20growth
,the%20interests%20of%20trading%20firms.

Artificial intelligence in sport can potentially undermine athlete rights


COMMENT: The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sport is so widespread that
most fields in professional sport are already embracing it. But Alberto Carrio
Sampedro warns that the unrestrained rise of AI can also undermine the basic
rights of athletes.
By: Alberto Carrio Sampedro | Professor, Pompeu Fabra University
Keywords: Technology Artificial intelligence
Comments on [Link] reflect the views of the author(s).

Days before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Summer Olympics we saw how the Olympic
torch was handed from humans to robots and vice versa. It was also robots who welcomed
athletes to the Olympic Village and escorted them to their accommodation using facial
recognition. And no-one was shocked when these robots were carefully cleaning the stadium
prior to the athletic contests.

Cycling fans celebrate every year that the Tour de France organisation has been a pioneer in
incorporating the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) and Digital Twin technology, which have led
to a huge improvement in the broadcasting of the race and has exponentially increased the
fans’ engagement in the most famous cycling competition in the world.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sport is so widespread that most fields of professional
sport are already embracing it. Certainly, AI is used today in refereeing, coaching, training,
prevention of injuries and sports endurance analysis. AI also plays an important role in the
improvement of athletes' diet and everything from sports betting to fighting doping and security
in stadiums. The same applies to amateur sports. Just consider the countless apps that
encourage us to do sports and improve our performance on a daily basis while feeding their
demanding databases.

Sports is indeed an area prone to the use of these disruptive technologies and there are many
positive features of AI, and they will be even more so in the future. It is certain that AI will
contribute to improving the health of athletes, the integrity of the competition and sporting
performance.

The dangers posed to athletes by AI


But it is also true that the current unrestrained rise of AI can seriously undermine the basic
rights of athletes, as well as challenge the integrity and equality of sport competition.

Sport has long been a field for testing new products, whether drugs or advanced technology,
without considering the interests and welfare of athletes. On the contrary, athletes have been
used as mere guinea pigs to test these products regardless of the impact on their lives and
careers. Indeed, today we deplore many premature deaths due to doping that could have been
avoided and countless mental health problems suffered by athletes as a consequence of their
training routines, that we are only now beginning to understand and regret.

The fast and uncontrolled growth of artificial intelligence in sport does not only increase the risk
of inequality and corruption in competition, as it happens with the so-called techno-doping. It
also jeopardises the privacy and autonomy of athletes by exposing their personal data to the
interests of trading firms.

This situation is particularly worrying in the case of children and young athletes. No one seems
to care about how AI is affecting the privacy of athletes and the impact on their future careers
from potentially biased data collection. Also algorithms for improving performance are often
based on biased data from elite athletes and could lead to physical and psychological collapse
amongst children and young people who try to follow them.

We should not forget that the data feeding sport algorithms are drawn from a male dominated
domain, created by and for the pleasure of men. The several biases these data contain only
increase the patriarchal nature of sport, ignoring the serious risks they pose to the health of
female athletes, whose biology and differences when practicing sport have never been taken
into account and are perpetuated through the patriarchal ancestry of AI.

In short, in the face of the growing and ever-increasing use of AI in sport, it is necessary to
ensure an ethical and legal framework that protects sport and, especially, athletes from the
domination of algorithms.

In other words, AI in sport should serve to reinforce the human values of sport such as fair play
and equality in competition. AI should ensure the integrity and good governance of sport at the
global level and deepen the social and educational side of sport rather than satisfy the financial
interests of large technology firms.

Common questions

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The unregulated application of AI in sports can jeopardize fair play by introducing inequalities such as techno-doping, where AI enhancements unfairly benefit certain competitors over others. It creates opportunities for corruption and biases within competitions, undermining the equal playing field traditionally upheld in sports .

The unrestrained growth of AI in sports poses several threats to athlete rights, including undermining privacy by exposing personal data to trading firms' interests and risking the integrity and equality of sport competition through phenomena like techno-doping. There is also concern over using athletes as test subjects without consideration of their welfare, potentially leading to mental health issues and premature deaths linked to doping .

AI's application in sports can negatively impact athletes' mental health by imposing data-driven expectations that may lead to stress and psychological issues. The pressure to continually optimize and adhere to AI-enhanced routines can lead to burnout or mental fatigue, especially if these technologies disregard individual differences and welfare in favor of performance metrics .

The ethical concerns regarding AI's impact on young athletes include privacy issues, as their data may be exploited by trading firms. Young athletes might follow algorithm-based training routines designed for elite athletes leading to potential physical and psychological harm. Additionally, biases in data, which often derive from male-dominated sports, can ignore the needs and health risks for female athletes, further entrenching gender inequalities .

AI is utilized in sporting events such as the Tour de France by employing IoT and Digital Twin technologies. These innovations improve broadcasting quality and create interactive, immersive experiences that increase fan engagement, allowing real-time data and analytics to enhance viewers' understanding and enjoyment of the event .

To ensure AI in sports upholds human values, it's essential to establish a robust ethical and legal framework overseeing AI's use, focusing on protecting athletes' rights and promoting fair competition and inclusivity. Governance should involve developing unbiased algorithms, transparent data practices, and safeguarding athletes' autonomy and privacy against commercial exploitation while enhancing the educational and social dimensions of sports .

The potential exploitation of athlete data by trading firms is worrying because it threatens athletes' privacy and autonomy, allowing commercial interests to dictate and manipulate personal information without sufficient oversight. This exploitation could impact athletes' careers and lives, especially if the data is biased or mishandled, leading to unethical usage or even harm .

AI technology can potentially enhance the integrity and governance of sports globally by establishing fairer competition through transparent adjudication processes and performance analysis. It can support anti-doping efforts and improve security measures. However, this requires stringent regulatory frameworks to prevent misuse and ensure AI serves athletes' interests and the sports community equitably rather than commercial or biased agendas .

AI contributes to professional sports by enhancing refereeing, coaching, training, injury prevention, athlete diets, competition integrity, sports performance, and security. It also helps in areas such as improved broadcasting through IoT and Digital Twin technologies, as seen in events like the Tour de France, which increases fan engagement .

The patriarchal nature of sports is reflected in AI applications through biased data predominantly derived from male athletes, failing to account for women's unique biological and physiological needs in sports. This bias perpetuates gender inequality, potentially harming the health and careers of female athletes by imposing unsuitable training regimens and standards that ignore their realities .

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