The Value of AI And “Carpe Omnia”

It has been the joyful summer of drinking from the sports business firehouse, and the real fun of this all is very little was predictable. The Knicks run, the World Cup (I still have my notes to formulate), The MLB and WNBA All-Star Games have all given us pause to smile and appreciate above the noise and the nonsense. There has been so mush talk about how AI, ChatPGT and the like will come and devour our human creative endeavors, but just like all other emerging technologies, those who evolve and grow and find a way to use the latest and greatest for their narrative will keep things moving well. I personally am looking forward to where this all goes and thought about a place where AI combined with the actual talents of a person now on the sidelines, can be an amazing benefit. It’s part of moving from an idea of Carpe Diem, Latin for “seize the day” to Carpe Omnia, which is seize everything. Leave nothing on the table every day.

As we know the legendary Dick Vitale for exmple, keeps battling his health issues with a resolve and spirit that is enviable. He is an American treasure. So what about this for the future. Not recreating an AI version of Dick Vitale, but give him the tools to use AI in real time to recreate his own voice through typing or eye movements or hand gestures. He types it and it comes out as his voice like we know it. It’s computer generated Dickie V from Dickie V not as an artificial source thinks he may say, malapropisms and all.

AI doesn’t replace it enhances. I thought about this over the weekend while I recalled that Derek Jeter was the last person to have the legendary booming voice of Bob Sheppard introduce him at Yankee Stadium, He had recorded the intro, and I believe Sheppard had recorded many other points of vocabulary to be used somewhere in the future, before the legendary PA announcer retired and ultimately passed away. Now while it is interesting to think about a future where an AI Vin Scully calls a World Series, or part of  World Series, or for Philadelphia fans a legendary Dave Zinkoff comes back to do a call of an opening lineup of a Sixers game (most players would not understand who that was), it is even better to think about how tech can help those still willing and able to do the work, but are slowed by the ability to not use all their tools. It enhances, it does not replace those doing the work (think about a highlight for an athlete who wants it to have a special walk in announcement of a legendary, licensed voice like we have walk up music and intro music now.)

Get better Dickie V., maybe those at ESPN and beyond (here is a recent link about ESPN’s use of AI) can get you back even sooner, while we can appreciate you and thank you even more for down the line.

AI will help us get closer to Carpe Omnia. We can’t be everywhere or do everything as much as we would like, and the showing up can;t be replicated. But where we can’t get there, we will use the tools to fill in the blanks and improve what we missed. That is invaluable.