It has also worked with Olympic Channel Services to launch an AI chat bot for the Games

Curling CREDIT Olympic Broadcasting Services

Olympic Broadcasting Services and Olympic Channel Services have revealed the broadcast innovations it will use at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games. 

Among these will be the first use of first-person view drones at a Winter Games, which are able to get much closer to athletes, tracking them at near-competitive speeds, delivering coverage that gives a sense of the athlete’s own perspective. 

OBS will also build on the real-time 360° replay systems introduced at Paris 2024, in collaboration with Alibaba. AI will be used to enable a combination of multi-camera replay systems and stroboscopic analysis delivering multi-angle views, freeze frames, and slow-motion sequences. 

In addition, its curling coverage will be enhanced by 3D stone tracking. An AI system using 12 cameras per sheet will track each stone’s position, speed and trajectory in real time, visualising its path and key performance data between hog lines. There will also be an overhead rail camera to give another angle on the action. 

The pair have also collaborated to launch an AI chat bot, Olympic GPT. Operating in 12 languages, the AI tool will help fans answer questions about the Olympics, using information that is not randomly sourced from the internet but rather from a data library specifically designed to provide accurate, unbiased and checked Olympic information. 

Overall, OBS will deliver 6,500 hours of coverage from the Winter Games, which take place 6-22 February. This will include vertical coverage for digital platforms, and will be produced from an International Broadcasting Centre that is 25% smaller than it was for the last Winter Games in Beijing and uses 33% less power. 

Image: Olympic Broadcasting Services