AI to help filter social media abuse at 2024 Paris Olympics

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be put to its optimum use to block all abuse directed at athletes at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach confirmed that the IOC will take AI’s help to monitor any abuse directed towards all participating athletes. More than 15,000 athletes in 32 disciplines will take part at the Paris Olympics next month. The 2024 Paris Olympics commences on July 26 and will go on till August 11.

The social media is rife with opinions on the ongoing wars in Ukraine and between Hamas and Israel in Gaza and the Summer Games is likely to see an impact of these wars on social media. The Games could generate more than half a billion social media engagements, as per the IOC’s estimates and the governing body will use AI to filter any abuse.

Bach, addressing the media in a press conference said, the move is aimed at safeguarding athletes. “The IOC will use AI in Paris in different areas. One is safeguarding, since we expect half a billion social media posts during these Games. If someone were to take only one second to read each post it would take them 16 years to go through. The IOC will instead provide a pro-active AI safeguarding tool to protect athletes from cyber abuse. This AI tool offers extensive monitoring, covering 15,000 athletes and officials. This automatically erases abusive posts to shield athletes,” he said.

Given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be competing under their country’s flag but have been allowed to take part in the Olympics as neutral athletes. The move hasn’t gone well with the countries with several social media posts, directed at the IOC, criticising the move.