NBC to debut A.I. recreation of Al Michaels' voice for Paris Olympics recaps

To aid in its vast coverage of this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, NBC is taking advantage of big A.I. advances to recreate renowned broadcaster Al Michaels’ voice. The network announced plans to use the A.I.-generated voice to create customizable recaps of fans’ favorite sports throughout the Olympics. Normally, there would be no feasible way for Michaels to deliver recaps of all the events on any given day during the jam-packed games but with A.I. much more is possible.

The network couldn’t use the famous voice without its owner’s approval, however. At first, Michaels had some questions.

“What would I sound like?” Michaels told Vanity Fair of his early skepticism. “Would I sound like a guy who just spews clichés? Would my voice be different?”

Once the long-time NBC face heard how well the technology mimicked his speech, and even his cadence, he was sold.

“Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing,” Michaels said to VF’s Tom Kludt. “And it was a little bit frightening… It was not only close, it was almost 2% off perfect… I’m thinking, ‘Whoa.’”

Mimicking speech isn’t too difficult even with yesterday’s tech, but having the A.I. learn the way Michaels talks was equally as important to the broadcaster as how it would sound.

“They were able to do exactly what I might—I shouldn’t say ‘exactly,’” Michaels said, referring to the A.I., “It sounded like what I might say in certain situations.”

For the 79-year-old’s quick adaptation to today’s innovations, Michaels earned praise from the President of NBC Sports, Rick Cordella. Cordella told reporters that he was the “perfect choice.”

“Al deserves credit for leaning into this technology so enthusiastically,” Cordella said.

How does the technology actually work? NBC will use a “large language model” to analyze the outlet’s Olympics coverage with various subtitles and metadata to then summarize the day’s events. The feature will be called ‘Your Daily Olympic Recap’ on Peacock. The model has also been trained to learn the unique pronunciations that pop up during sporting events. Recap videos will be roughly 10 minutes with highlights.

The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, is in Paris, France. Coverage begins with the Opening Ceremony on July 26. The games wrap up on August 11. In a Summer Games first for Peacock, the platform will stream every event in every sport, with full-event replays available.

RedZone’s Scott Hanson to co-host Olympics ‘Gold Zone’

NFL RedZone fans get excited, Scott Hanson will be back on TV sooner than expected. The RedZone host is teaming up with Sunday Ticket host Andrew Siciliano to broadcast the “Gold Zone,” a whip-around highlights show for the Summer Olympics. The Gold Zone will be on NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock. The broadcasting team for Gold Zone will also include hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila.

Gold Zone will stream live on Peacock from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET each day throughout the games.

“With up to 40 events happening simultaneously during the Paris Olympic Games, Gold Zone will present viewers with the best and most compelling moments happening at any time,” NBC shared in a press release. “The daily live show will guide fans through the excitement, triumphs, and emotion of the Games, scanning all the events that day to provide viewers with the most exhilarating moments and key races, routines, and finishes as they unfold live. 

“Gold Zone’s daily offering will provide viewers with the most comprehensive and all-encompassing live whip-around coverage of any Olympic Games to date.”

Andrew Siciliano previously hosted NBC’s live Gold Zone coverage during the 2014 Sochi Winter games and the 2016 Rio Olympics. Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila are currently co-host of NBC’s American Ninja Warrior. It’s the duo’s third and second times covering the Olympics, respectively. The various hosts of Peacock’s Gold Zone will also bring on special guests throughout their daily coverage.