College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark not ruling out use of AI in future

College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark, who is in his first season at the helm following a nearly four-decade career in the Air Force, won’t rule out using artificial intelligence in future Playoff rankings.

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is a controversial issue across the globe, but it remains a valuable tool that is utilized to great effect in both the business world and in the military. And, quite possibly in the not-too-distant future, to determine which college football teams are most deserving of making the College Football Playoff field.

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“AI will never take over, but might be a tool committee members might use,” Clark said Tuesday at the Sports Business Journal’s 2024 Intercollegiate Athletic Forum, according to Brett McMurphy.

.@CFBPlayoff executive director Rich Clark asked if AI could be used in future for selecting teams: "AI will never take over, but might be a tool committee members might use." #SBJIAF

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 10, 2024

Clark added he’s made use of AI in his capacity with the U.S. Air Force. But much like with the military, it’s moreso a tool to assist humans in their day-to-day work, and not meant to replace any human influence.

“Here’s what I’ll say: AI is a tool and I’ve had to deal with AI in the military. In the military we use AI in war fighting,” Clark added, according to CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello. “We use AI to deliver weapon. But what I will say is we don’t take the man out of the loop because war fighting is a human endeavor.”

Prior to taking over for longtime CFP director Bill Hancock in Nov. 2023, Clark served as the Superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he directed a four-year regiment of military training, academics, athletic and character development programs for both the Air Force and Space Force, according to his online profile.

Clark was a four-year defensive lineman with the U.S. Air Force Academy in the early-1980s and helped lead the 1985 Falcons to a 12-1 overall record, a Bluebonnet Bowl win over Texas and a final No. 8 ranking in the AP Poll.

Paul Finebaum on CFP committee: ‘Warde Manuel completely blew it’

Paul Finebaum didn’t hold back about Warde Manuel and the College Football Playoff committee Monday morning.

Following the release of the final rankings and bracket, Finebaum couldn’t believe Manuel and crew showed their hand. It could set a bad precedent regarding the rankings moving forward.

“The biggest problem this committee had is that Warde Manuel, the athletic director at Michigan, got up on Tuesday night and completely blew it,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “He said things that committee chairman never say. And by the way, I appreciate him being transparent, but he put a roadblock up, and he essentially said, what you what you alluded to. And the reason why that committee went the direction there are people that represent college football and to make it easy for the audience, the college championship games bring in 10s, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, and they would have in essence, issued a Supreme Court ruling saying they are null and void. 

“So Alabama got jobbed. But again, Alabama did it to themselves. So they preserved the conference championship games at least for another year. They’re not going to be around long. You and I both know that.”