Published 18:43 IST, November 1st 2020
AI camera follows soccer ref’s bald head mistaking it as ball, netizens say ‘has a crush’
The incident occurred just weeks after the Inverness Caledonian Thistle soccer team dismissed its human cameraman and switched to an AI technology instead.
- Entertainment News
- 2 min read
In an unforeseen incident, an AI cam’s tech recognition at a soccer match captured the lineman’s bald head as “the ball” throughout, leaving soccer teams surprised and the audience clueless. The incident, that has left the internet in splits, occurred just weeks after the Inverness Caledonian Thistle soccer team dismissed its human cameraman and switched to an AI technology instead. The announcement was made only last week, as the club said with pride that its new camera will use advanced “Pixellot system with in-built, AI, ball-tracking technology” at one of the most awaited matches.
In a recent clip from the match shared by James Felton on Twitter, the team's AI camera can be seen tracking the referee’s bald head for a football the whole time during the Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ayr United match held at Caledonian Stadium in Scotland. Inverness Caledonians' AI digital camera created uproar and gaffe as the HD footage of the match was being directly broadcasted to the season-ticket holders' homes. The visuals aired live kept the focus on the coach’s bald head instead of the soccer ball that reduced the match to chuckles. In the clip that has now amassed 999k views, the camera devoid of any human operator adjusted its autofocus to follow the linesman, the minute his bald head entered the frame.
Viewers missed the goal shot
Shortly, viewers complained about missing the shot of their favourite team scoring a goal since the AI assumed Lino bald head was the ball. Amidst the match, the club suggested that the lineman must be provided with a toupe or hat to cover the head as it caused great inconvenience to both players and the audience. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, the match was held in an empty stadium and spectators largely relied on the camera to watch the game, but all they could see on visuals was a head. The commenter apologized to the audience, saying, that their advanced AI cam was programmed to follow the ball until the end of the match. Amused at the object recognition technology glitch, the internet opined that “Tully must wear a hat from now on.”
Updated 18:43 IST, November 1st 2020