As with other media outlets, the ESPN channel should not rely on artificial intelligence for its ad spots for much longer.
The reason! It is certainly due to the controversy surrounding Tony Parker during Game 1 of the NBA Finals between his former team, the San Antonio Spurs, and the New York Knicks, played in the night from Wednesday to Thursday (95-105).
During this game, his image was used as a celebration amid confetti and the logo of the Texan franchise. But everyone quickly noticed the ruse, which occurred during the third quarter of the match.
The face of the French star is simply unrecognizable.
Moreover, three animated portraits were used with this technology to trace the great history of the playoffs, according to Front Office Sports which contacted ESPN for explanations.
The late Bill Russell, an icon of the Boston Celtics in the 50s and 60s, was also part of it (this time before halftime, at the start of the second quarter) using a famous photo of his fadeaway shot during the 1960 Finals, moving from the original black-and-white to a colorized and above all slightly animated version.
For Tony Parker, it is all the less forgivable that the photo dates from 2003, reproducing a famous image captured in the wake of the first of his four titles with the Spurs (before those of 2005, 2007 and 2014).
“The concept aimed to bring life to the emblematic moments of the playoffs; the use of AI was an experiment,” explains an ESPN spokesperson, thus confirming in passing that the said experiment would not necessarily be extended.
It is another setback for artificial intelligence, as the player and star Caitlin Clark directly addressed her own franchise (Indiana Fever) online last month after an image of herself was broadcast and thus created through this tool.
