1.   Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (further referred to as AI) has become an important part of our daily life ranging from social life to industrial application as well. One such industry where AI is being actively used is the Sports Industry and the related activities which range from training, scouting, tactical decisions to doping detection.^[i] Artificial Intelligence is gradually establishing itself in the sporting industry and the smart solution recommended by AI has been able to develop sports in a completely different way. AI has helped in analyzing, broadcast, recommending innovative methods to have a competitive advantage on the other side. Irrespective of the benefits that AI have in the field of the sports industry, one cannot ignore the legal and ethical issues that AI’s application pose in the sporting world. With unobstructed access and growth that AI has to the confidential resources a number of important legal and ethical issues arise which remain unanswered

 

2.   Application of Artificial Intelligence in Sports

AI is used to enhance the performance of not only individual sportspersons but also the team as a whole. AI is integrated in the camera on any portable device in order to make a live action video which is further used for tracking physical poses and give out data to improve performance. A recent study has showed that AI can also help in predicting a level of exertion based on the vitals of an athlete which would help in optimizing training sessions.^[ii] Another area where AI is applied is the field of scouting, coaching and decision making. In the field of cricket it helps in analyzing data like number of runs, number of balls played, boundaries scored as well as one-on-one competition between the bowler and batsmen, which helps in predicting close to accurate match outcomes and also analyze a player’s performance.[iii]In Ice hockey, Sportlogiq has developed an AI which has helped identify talented players who would otherwise be ignored by the concerned bodies.^[iv] In the field of football, Liverpool Football Club used SkillComer, an artificial intelligence, which tracks players, which helps in creating a SWOT analysis of the team in a short duration of time, which is further used to design training programs.^[v]Moreover, Artificial Intelligence can be used to help the coaches and team management identify statistically perfect and efficient player combinations and team line-up. The most  recent case was in April 2021 where Kevin De Bruyne used AI based data analysis to broker a £83m Man City contract without agent.

 

3.   Legal and Ethical Issues

3.1.        Need of Consent for Data Processing

In order to analyze data for being processed by Artificial Intelligence, an athlete needs to give valid consent for collection and processing of the same. The consent must be specific, based on the knowledge of all facts, free and explicit in nature. As per Article 6 of the General Data Protection Regulation(further referred to as GDPR) requires an athlete to give consent to the data processing and it is necessary for the performance of a contract.  However, in the sports context data analysis is usually done on the athlete’s medical and physical statistics in order to determine the eligibility to participate in the sport, and take other tactical decisions. It must be noted that such health data falls under the ‘special category’ as per GDPR, and the processing of such data is prohibited under an exception stated in Article 9.2.

3.2.        Cyber Security Concerns

There has been a rise in the cyber security issues and concerns with respect to application of artificial intelligence in sports. Lack of a universal set of rules and regulation for cyber security, platforms and services renders the embedded artificial intelligence prone and open for severe cyber attacks.

One such cyber trespass took place when the World Anti Doping Agency (further referred to as WADA) was attacked by the Russian cyber group Tsar Team during the 2016 Olympics in Rio.[vi]

They gained illegal access to WADA’s Anti Doping Administration and Management database who published the athlete’s medical details on the world wide web.

There is need for universal certification which would cover the internet based products, services and processes that would ensure a contractual obligation between online service providers that would adhere to a universal set of rules and regulations like that of ETSI EN 303 645[vii]  laid down to protect the personal data of the sportspersons and the industry related personnel.

 

3.3.        Application of AI in the life-cycle of Sports Legal Contracts

Legal Contracts contain critical data with respect to organizational commitments, obligation, rights, remedies and rules that reflect past decisions in order enhance future performance. Artificial Intelligence scans through terminologies, policies, rights and conditions, thereby helping in deriving an insight into the main aspects of the contract. This application of artificial intelligence can be used at various stages of a sports legal contract.

The National Football League in the United States applies artificial intelligence in determining whether a team is over spending in building a team by analyzing a player’s statistics.[viii]The final reports acts as a bargaining chip to negotiate more favorable terms for the management.

This is not very efficient and effective in nature because all the data available to the software is of the past and based on it any future prediction would be a huge gamble. There are players who turn out to be one time wonders but fail to maintain consistency in their performance. These cannot be identified by the algorithm and thus the chance of a faulty decision increases. Moreover, while drafting any contract, each and every stakeholder’s wants, needs and interests are to be taken into account so as to have a efficient management of all the parts of the sports team. These cannot be taken into consideration by an AI controlled algorithm as they can be emotional or personal in nature and not based on any statistical data. Therefore one cannot depend solely on drafting and coming up with the terms and conditions of Sportsperson’s contract.

 

3.4.        Illegal Broadcasting

AI has no doubt improved the level and quality of sports broadcast that we experience today.

AI has helped in picking out highlights of live sport events that are distributed to multiple web based media services as well as television channels. But, unfortunately with all these advancement various illegal elements have also emerged to take benefit on any technological back door and gain from it. This damages the Intellectual Property Rights as illegal broadcasting is clearly a violation of the Copyright Laws irrespective of the jurisdiction where it takes place.

In case of any technical glitch or human controlled trespass takes place in the technological environment which is controlling the live broadcast of any sporting event, a huge number of doors open up for the proxy broadcasters. A recent international survey by SMG Insight showcased that around 54% viewers of any sports event used illegal proxy broadcasters.[ix]This is only one of the many surveys which have shown similar results and therefore it is necessary for the AI to work together with the Proxy hunters to shut down this illegal websites which cause a huge monetary loss to the licensed broadcasters.

 

3.5.        Betting and Gambling

AI systems basically analyze data to come to any conclusion. This includes analyzing data to predict the outcome of the result of the game which would work like a boom to the betting and gambling industry.[x]AI has almost no limitation when it comes to data processing and thus is becoming an important tool in the betting industry.[xi]

 

3.6.        Ethical Challenges

Ethically, we need to need to determine a boundary to limit the use of artificial intelligence in enhancing sports performances. The human factor may be lost with high technological doping in the form of statistical data which would turn human athletes into data-based machinery. There should be bar to human enhancement in the form of natural as well as technological alteration to an athlete.

Regular use of AI would remove the human factor  from the sports by erasing all emotions from the sport.[xii]AI would make sports so predictable that it would become like a scripted movie as everything would be based on pre-defined data. One cannot enjoy a perfect show of sports, rather the human element of mistakes causes excitement as well as frustration within the fans engaged in the sports, which makes sports what it is today.

 

4.   Conclusion

An extreme of anything is considered to harmful. The same applies to Artificial Intelligence and its application sports. The important aspects that every sports organizations wishing to adopt and use Artificial Intelligence is that there should be clear line of differentiation between the technological and human factor of sports. There needs to be clarity with respect to data protection as well as ownership of the athlete’s data. A robust cyber security mechanism needs to be adopted in order to secure each area of practice. Lastly, there needs to be the ethical boundaries regarding the use of AI-systems to increase sport performances.