AI in sports

Introduction

Since the publication of this guide in 2023, AI has moved from an emerging curiosity to a central force in the sports industry. Formula 1 teams use the technology to shave milliseconds off their lap times; golf equipment manufacturers are leveraging AI to craft the perfect club; and the English Premier League introduced an integrated chatbot to help fans select their fantasy side. The reliance on AI for enhanced officiating continues to increase, as shown by the continuing advancement of AI-driven semi-automated offside technology in soccer, the adoption of AI-powered instant automated line-calling in tennis (now even in use at Wimbledon), and the introduction of the automated ball-strike challenge system in Major League Baseball. Meanwhile, UK Anti-Doping has deployed the “WhistleBot” chatbot to assist with making reports, and there is clear potential for AI to help anti-doping agencies detect suspicious patterns in athlete performance.

Across the world, brands, leagues, athletes, anti-doping bodies, and sports betting operators are deploying generative AI tools at scale – and regulators have taken notice. The past three years have brought a wave of new legislation, a surge in deepfake-related fraud, novel sponsorship models, and unresolved questions around preserving the integrity of sports. This update covers the developments that matter most for stakeholders operating at the intersection of AI, sport, and advertising.

Athlete data, deepfakes, and likeness fraud

The sports context is especially fertile ground for scammers, and AI-generated fraud targeting sports fans has increased rapidly. Fake fan pages have appeared featuring AI-generated images of baseball players performing charitable acts that never happened. International soccer players’ likenesses have been used without consent to promote financial products and betting apps. In one high-profile case, a social media platform’s oversight board overturned a decision to leave up an AI-generated video of a Brazilian soccer legend appearing to endorse an online gambling game.

In the UK, regulators reported nearly eight million deepfake incidents across the country in 2025, with online betting platforms among the hardest hit.

College athletes in the United States face particular risk as they build their name, image, and likeness (NIL) brands. Following the House v. NCAA settlement in June 2025 – which allows Division I schools to share up to $20.5 million per institution with their student-athletes – the commercial value of an athlete’s digital identity has never been higher, making unauthorized exploitation more lucrative for bad actors.

New regulations are also attempting to combat deepfakes worldwide. The European Union introduced the landmark EU AI Act to ensure AI is used safely and transparently. This includes prohibiting certain dangerous practices, mandating disclosure of deepfake content so end users are aware of its provenance, and requiring machine-readable labeling of AI-generated material (although, in July 2026, the “Digital Omnibus on AI” postponed the regulatory timeline for stand-alone high-risk AI systems and for AI embedded in products that are subject to existing EU sectoral safety legislation). 

The EU regulatory landscape presents broader data and privacy questions in sport, as stakeholders will have to navigate rules relating to the use of AI on certain biometric data, in recruitment contexts, and in a host of other scenarios. For more information on the latest AI developments in the privacy and data protection spaces, please visit Data protection & privacy: European Union, United States, & United Kingdom.

Notwithstanding greater regulations, AI can also be used to protect athletes from external bad actors. For instance, UK Sport recently announced a partnership with Social Protect, an AI app that detects and removes abusive comments targeting athletes in real time, as UK athletes prepare for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. As online hate toward sports stars increases, new technology can help provide some peace of mind when competing on the world stage.   

New models for content and sponsorship

AI is also helping to create new revenue streams in sport. AI-driven platforms now generate personalized highlight videos at massive scale. One leading platform produced over eight million video clips via AI in the first half of 2025, a 52% year-over-year increase, enabling targeted advertising to be served within each clip.

“AI Experience Rooms” are also emerging as a new category of sponsorship asset for rights holders. These interactive digital environments integrate sponsor branding into fan-facing storytelling, creating digital inventory that did not previously exist. Sports marketing start-ups are also using generative AI to automate athlete influencer campaigns, allowing brands to launch campaigns via plain-language prompts at more affordable rates.

Generative AI is also being used to create personalized betting content, automated match previews, and tailored promotions at scale. For example, European soccer leagues have been extensively exploring live AI translation of game commentary, allowing them to expand their reach worldwide by offering coverage in a variety of languages. AI-powered odds-setting now integrates real-time player tracking, injury data, and social media sentiment analysis to deliver faster and more granular markets.

On the other side of the coin, consumers are increasingly using AI-assisted betting strategies, and AI-powered betting bots have grown considerably more sophisticated. Sports betting operators face a dual challenge: leveraging generative AI for customer engagement while ensuring it does not cross the line into manipulative personalization – a line the EU AI Act’s Article 5 draws explicitly.

More broadly, as AI companies grow and mature, they are increasingly entering the sports ecosystem as sponsors themselves. The English Premier League has started to see leading clubs choose AI-adjacent companies as their front-of-shirt sponsors, whereas tournaments in sports from cricket to tennis have signed lucrative sponsorship deals with AI firms. As with every sponsorship agreement, the potential is there for these deals to transform into broader, deeper relationships between sports organizations and tech companies, beyond just a traditional sponsorship relationship.

Match-fixing and integrity

AI tools are also being implemented to help combat match-fixing and preserve the integrity of sports. AI-powered fraud detection systems now monitor over 30 billion real-time odds changes annually to detect match-fixing and anomalous betting patterns with highly precise accuracy rates.

Global match-fixing detection improved in 2025, but criminal networks continue to adapt, using AI themselves to place bets in patterns designed to evade detection algorithms. The arms race between integrity systems and those seeking to corrupt sporting events shows no sign of abating.

In the United States, a series of high-profile gambling scandals put sports integrity at the center of the U.S. policy debate. In the Eastern District of New York, at least five current and former National Basketball Association (NBA) figures have been indicted on gambling-related charges, including allegations of disseminating insider information on player injuries to illegal betting syndicates. The NBA Commissioner publicly backed a proposal by a former federal prosecutor for a national sports betting administrator modeled on FINRA – an independent office with subpoena powers to investigate integrity violations across state lines. 

On the legislative front, New York proposed the Regulating Addictive Notifications Act in 2025, which would prohibit mobile sports betting operators from sending push notifications soliciting wagers or deposits. These efforts highlight the tension between AI-driven engagement and player protection, which continues to be a defining regulatory challenge in the U.S. market.

Looking ahead

As AI continues to evolve, so too will the surrounding legal, commercial, and regulatory environments. Sports organizations should therefore ensure their diligence accounts for these developments from both a technological and sporting lens in order to maximize the use of AI to generate the best results on and off the field.