Jim Nantz learned about the power of generative AI from Jim Nantz — or, rather, from a computer-generated version of him in a clip someone sent to him about three years ago.
“I still have it in my phone,” says Nantz, CBS’ top voice for the NFL and the Masters. “I was so blown away by it; it sounds exactly like me.”
Nantz is now considering lending his voice to an AI-related project. He’s mum on the details, except to say that it would go beyond a lifetime tie-up.
“It’s a from-the-grave kind of a deal,” he says. “Who knows where this AI is going, but it has the chance to call certain things for as long as somebody wanted to use it … It’s just extraordinary to think about the possibilities.” Still, Nantz says he’ll only go through with that kind of thing if it’s done right.
Artificial intelligence has already made its way through most top sports TV productions, with companies sharing few specifics on how much they’re spending on the tech, in part because it would be overwhelming to tally up all the ways it’s been integrated into broadcasts.
