AI at the World Cup: smarter tactics, healthy players, safer crowds – but new risks

What about off the field?

Crowd management and logistics are other areas where AI will be deployed.

FIFA has built an "Intelligence Command Centre " - which will connect data across matches, venues and broadcasters - as well as digital twin models of stadiums to monitor and forecast crowd behaviour.

This will aim to ensure crowd-related issues such as bottlenecks are controlled.

Are there any risks?

While there are many benefits, a broad spectrum of risks will need to be managed.

Key concerns with AI tools are substandard outputs, and loss of skills and meaningful work for humans. To combat this, teams should ensure AI is only used to support human decision making, not replace it.

Data privacy and security will be key concerns, with the possibility of confidential or sensitive information being leaked or accessed by unauthorised or malicious actors. The use of AI in areas such as security and crowd management could also provide the opportunity for highly disruptive cyber attacks.

Equality could be an issue: teams with more financial power may have an advantage through more sophisticated tools.

In an attempt to level the playing field, FIFA has introduced Football AI Pro, an AI tool available to all teams. This soccer-specific large language model supports both pre- and post-match analysis and provides access to more than 2,000 metrics.

The aim is to ensure all nations have access to at least some level of AI support. It remains to be seen which nations actually use it.

Another potential adverse outcome is tactical homogenisation, where games become predictable because every team follows the same AI-generated game plan.

Sadly, AI will likely be deployed for nefarious purposes, for example as part of ticketing scams through AI-generated images, deepfakes, websites and phishing emails. Fans should take care at all times.