From: usenet@only.tnx   
      
   A dispatch from the wonderful world of AI:   
      
   >>>>>>>   
   Technology and sports have a fairly mixed relationship already. Log on to   
   Twitter during a soccer match (or football as it's properly known) and as well   
   as people tweeting ambiguous statements like "YESSS" and "oh no mate" to about   
   20,000 inexplicable retweets, you'll likely see a lot of complaints about the   
   video assistant referee (VAR) and occasionally goal-line technology not doing   
   its job.   
      
   Fans of Scottish football team Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC experienced a   
   new   
   hilarious technological glitch during a match last weekend, but in all honesty,   
   you'd be hard-pressed to say it didn't improve the viewing experience   
   dramatically.   
      
   The club announced a few weeks ago it was moving from using human camera   
   operators to cameras controlled by AI. The club proudly announced at the time   
   the new "Pixellot system uses cameras with in-built, AI, ball-tracking   
   technology" and would be used to capture HD footage of all home matches at   
   Caledonian Stadium, which would be broadcast directly to season-ticket holders'   
   homes.   
      
   Cut to last Saturday, when the robot cameras were given a new challenge that   
   hadn't been foreseen:  A linesman with a bald head.   
      
   "Inverness Caledonian Thistle don’t employ a cameraman as their camera is   
   programmed to follow the ball throughout the match. The commentator had to   
   apologise today as the camera kept on mistaking the ball for the linesman’s   
   head... pic.twitter.com/LeKsc2bEj7"   
   - Tom Cox (@seagull81) October 24, 2020   
      
   The AI camera appeared to mistake the man's bald head for the ball for a lot of   
   the match, repeatedly swinging back to follow the linesman instead of the   
   actual   
   game. Many viewers complained they missed their team scoring a goal because the   
   camera "kept thinking the Lino bald head was the ball," and some even suggested   
   the club would have to provide the linesman with a toupe or hat.   
      
   With no fans allowed in the stadium due to Covid-19 restrictions, the fans of   
   Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC and their opponents Ayr United could only watch   
   via the cameras, and so were treated to mostly a view of the linesman's head   
   instead of any exciting moments of the match that were occurring off-camera,   
   though some fans saw this as a bonus given the usual quality of performance.   
      
   As you can see from the highlight reel above, the AI-operated camera   
   continuously follows the linesman's head, particularly struggling as the ball   
   falls down towards the ground near him. You can practically hear its thought   
   process:  "ball ball ball bald head, there's a bald head, zoom in on the bald   
   head."   
      
   The object recognition technology could clearly do with a bit of a tweak, or   
   else the team might actually have to implement the policy of bald referees   
   being   
   forced to wear a sombrero to differentiate themselves from the ball.   
   <<<<<<<   
      
   https://www.iflscience.com/technology/ai-camera-ruins-soccar-gam   
   -for-fans-after-mistaking-referees-bald-head-for-ball/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)