Watch: AI recreates Al Michaels' voice before Olympics

Al Michaels. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: AI recreates Al Michaels' voice ahead of Olympics debut

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated Jun 26, 2024 4:08 PM ET

Artificial intelligence made its presence known at the All England Club last summer, making its debut at a major tennis event during Wimbledon.

Now, AI is going to Paris, as NBC announced on Wednesday that it will be using legendary broadcaster Al Michaels' voice to break down recaps of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

NBC announced that an AI recreation of Al Michaels’ voice will be part of Peacock’s Olympics coverage.

The feature will be implemented for “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” which will provide fans with a customized playlist featuring highlights of the events most relevant… pic.twitter.com/2tiZp78kut
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) June 26, 2024

Here's an example of what the highlights might sound like.

NBC has announced that it will use A.I. to recreate Al Michaels’ voice for custom recaps during the 2024 Olympics. pic.twitter.com/eX5aTFBVen
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) June 26, 2024

One may think that in addition to being creepy, this venture is disrespectful to the 79-year-old sportscasting icon. Michaels, after all, is still very much a part of what makes tuning into sports (particularly football) enjoyable.

The NBC Sports announcer is also still the regular play-by-play voice of "Thursday Night Football" on Amazon Prime Video.

In an NBC press release, however, Michaels said that after some initial hesitancy, he jumped on board with the project.

"When I was approached about this, I was skeptical but obviously curious," Michaels said. "Then I saw a demonstration detailing what they had in mind. I said, 'I’m in.'"

Victor Barbosa

Victor Barbosa is a passionate follower of MLB, the NBA and NFL, with a deep interest in Boston-area teams. He graduated from Springfield College -- The Birthplace of Basketball -- in 2013 with a degree in Communications-Sports Journalism. Previous bylines include FanSided, Heavy and Syracuse

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