Nike Taps On AI Technology To Pit Serena Williams Against Her Younger Self

To commemorate Serena William’s 27th and final year as a professional athlete, Nike harnessed the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to show just how far the tennis queen’s game has evolved. 

In collaboration with AKQA Studios, the sportswear giant clicked rewind, and pit Williams’ 2017 Australian Open performance against her first Gram Slam at the 1999 US Open. 

Incredibly, by combing through tons of archival footage, the machine learning tool was able to micmic the star’s playing style from each era, including her decision making, shot selection, reactivity, recovery, and agility. 

According to AKQA, the technology build upon the vid2player technique developed by Stanford University, thus bringing models of past and present Serena to life, and rendering the two players into an entirely new setup in which they could respond to each other.

Naturally, it’s expected that this method of data visualization will soon be picked up by sports analysts worldwide, as a new and accessible way for sportspeople to review performances and interpret metrics.

In total, the AI ran the simulated match up for 130,000 games (or 5,000 matches), with the final gameplay streamed live on YouTube to an audience of 1.69 million. Take a look at the video below. 

[via LBB Online and AKQA, images via AKQA]