AI Camera Confuses Referee’s Bald Head For Ball Throughout Soccer Match
Image via Shutterstock
Humans have feared that AI will one day be smart enough to consciously wreak havoc in the world. That’s probably still a little in the future, because as of now, it seems to struggle with things like CAPTCHAs and object identification.
Late last month, soccer fans got a kick out of watching a “ball-tracking” AI camera follow a linesman’s bald head around at a match, as it had mistaken it for a ball.
According to Scottish soccer club Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC’s website, the newly-installed Pixellot setup “uses cameras with in-built, AI, ball-tracking technology” to capture HD videos at Caledonian Stadium. As fans aren’t currently allowed at the facility, the footage would be broadcasted to their homes.
Unfortunately, the system was not prepared for a second shiny, hairless round object to appear on the field, resulting in a glitch that limited fans from being able to enjoy the match properly.
As seen in videos uploaded online, the commentator later had to apologize on behalf of the robot cameras for their accidental tracking of the referee’s head as a ball. It annoyed audience members so much, they insisted that the man just wear a hat.
Whether the referee will put on headwear in the next match, the ball remains in his court.
Inverness Caledonian broadcast games with a robot camera programmed to follow ball in their Scottish second tier matches. The commentator had to apologize as camera kept on mistaking bald linesman’s head for ball and simply following it up and down field 😂pic.twitter.com/RqIt2FYvAr
— roger bennett (@rogbennett) October 29, 2020
Inverness Caledonian Thistle don’t employ a cameraman as their camera is programmed to follow the ball throughout the match. The commentator had to apologise today as the camera kept on mistaking the ball for the linesman’s head... pic.twitter.com/LeKsc2bEj7
— Tom Cox (@seagull81) October 24, 2020
[via IFLScience, cover image via Shutterstock]
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