In just a few short days, we’ll watch enraptured as golf balls soar and a green jacket is awarded. We’re talking, of course, about the Masters tournament, which will begin on April 5 in Augusta, Georgia. And while our poor human eyes and brains may not be able to take in everything that’s going on at one of the largest golf tournaments in the world, luckily, we’ll have some help from our good friend Watson, the artificial intelligence program developed by IBM.
With the launch of the new My Moments feature on both the Masters website and the Masters app, you’ll be able to check out an automated, personalized highlight reel that ensures that you don’t miss a moment on the green.
Thanks to Watson, you’ll now have an artificially intelligent tool that can help you catch up on all the action you may have missed throughout the day. The single sign-on system allows you to check in across a number of different devices, but to always be served the most recent content. And this year in particular, IBM Watson will help curators identify so-called “Masters Moments,” the highlights that will make just about every sizzle reel that recaps the tournament.
The A.I. assistant will “watch” all live-stream video, and parcel out clips by intelligently recognizing the beginning and end of a player’s shot. It will then identify the player in the clip, the hole the golfer is playing, and which shot is being taken by leveraging visual recognition capabilities.
And to determine how highlight-worthy the shot is, Watson will examine key three factors — first, the audio track to gauge the roar of the crowd; second, player gestures like fist pumps or hands in the air (as well as emotions in a player’s face); and finally, a transcription of the broadcast commentary, which Watson will then analyze for keywords that denote excitement or anything extraordinary.
Watson will then score the highlights and index them in order to make the lives of the Masters digital team just a little bit easier. Plus, it’ll help the fans get access to content faster than ever before.
Even if you’re not a golf fan, you’ll soon likely be interacting with Watson in more ways than you know. At IBM’s annual Think conference a few weeks ago, the company unveiled the Watson Assistant, an intelligent helper that you could soon find not only in your house, but in your car, office, hotel, or just about anywhere else.
