Sports Are About Bodies, Not Bots, 2026.11.02

FIFA wants teams to use "AI coaches," colleges are incorporating LLMs into student sports journalism, and that's just the beginning of the ways AI boosters are infiltrating athletics. Sports journalist and professor Shireen Ahmed joins Alex and Emily for a closer look at what's lost when we cede sports knowledge to genAI.

Shireen Ahmed is an award-winning, multiplatform sports journalist who works at the intersections of race, gender, culture and politics. She's a co-host of the Burn It All Down podcast, and teaches journalism and sport media at Toronto Metropolitan University.

References:

• "This Will Be The First World Cup Ever With AI Coaches On The Sidelines"
• "WSU turns to artificial intelligence to assist sports communications"
• "'I'm all in on Claude' - Joe Mazzulla admits he uses AI every day to help coach the Celtics"

Also referenced:

• "WNBA fans hate AI but the league is embracing it anyway"
• "The Relationship Between AI and Women’s Sports"
• MAIHT3k Episode 45: Billionaires, Influencers, and Ed Tech (feat. Adrienne Williams)

Fresh AI Hell:

• "We can't just change the definition of 'recording'"
• Pervert glasses ban on the table in Norway
• Daron Acemoglu rejects "stochastic parrots" framing
• Google imposing Gemini on K-12 students
• Altman: Don't waste RAM on personal computing devices
• Google software still regularly doing racism
• Author fan mail scammers turn out to be trafficked people
• "Denmark Publishes Emergency Grid Law That Puts Data Centers Last"

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Emily

• Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
• Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender

Alex

• Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
• Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
• Twitter: @alexhanna

Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. 
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.