The AI trained preview bot could have done with a trip to the museum while cult favourite Bill Bryson paid a special Independence Day visit
imbledon’s much-hyped experiment in using generative AI to “deliver compelling, insight-driven storytelling at scale” at this year’s championships got off to a sticky start on Monday, when claims including a suggestion that Emma Raducanu is the British No 1 were widely ridiculed on social media. It may just be a co-incidence – an algorithm should be able to take a gentle ribbing, after all – but the subsequent, er, “insights” provided by IBM’s preview-bot have felt increasingly cautious ever since. “ Swiatek is favoured in the match against Martic” is not exactly putting your virtual neck on the block when the world No.1 is priced up at 1-33 with the bookies.
So fair play to the bot for a very punchy opinion on Thursday’s Battle of the Brits between Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie. While the bookmakers were unanimous in making Draper, the British No 1, a red-hot favourite at around 1-3 – equating to around a 76% chance of the win – the AI preview suggested that Draper should be the outsider, and sided instead with Norrie as having a 54% chance of success. Whether it had backed up its opinion with hard cash – or possibly crypto – is unclear.