Many people believe legendary broadcaster Al Michaels is one of a kind.
NBC is apparently not one of them as the network plans to use artificial intelligence to recreate Michaels’ voice for recaps during Summer Olympics in Paris, NBC News announced Wednesday.
“Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock” will include a “high-quality A.I. re-creation” of Michaels’ voice that uses his past work on NBC to match his “signature expertise and elocution,” the streaming service announced.
Michaels’ reaction to this turn of events was also the feature of an interview with Vanity Fair in an interview also released Wednesday.
In a word, he was “skeptical.”
“What would I sound like?” Michaels said. “Would I sound like a guy who just spews clichés? Would my voice be different?”
Michaels said he was “very skeptical” plan —until he heard the AI voice. “Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing,” he in the interview. “And it was a little bit frightening.”
Michaels, 79, could not believe the likeness of the AI voice compared to his.
“It was not only close,” he said. “It was almost 2% off perfect. I’m thinking, Whoa.”
Peacock, along with NBC News is by NBCUniversal, a unit of Comcast, said about 7 million personalized versions of the recap could be streamed during the Games, NBC News said.
“Peacock continues to introduce unique customer-first features that strengthen our unmatched leadership in live streaming,” Kelly Campbell, the president of the streaming platform and head of NBCUniversal’s direct-to-consumer unit, said.
Michaels has been a part of NBC Sports since 2006 and was a part of the network’s “Sunday Night Football” through 2021.
He has been a part of many memorable events in sports history, including at 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.
When the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet Union in an upset, Michaels exclaimed, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
The announcement by NBC comes at a time when AI has been under fire
“Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock” will streaming to subscribers with a customized playlist that provides highlights of the competitions.
“They were able to do exactly what I might — I shouldn’t say ‘exactly,’” Michaels said. “It sounded like what I might say in certain situations.”
But it appears not everyone is on board with this new, artificial Al Michaels and they said as much on X, formerly Twitter.
Here’s an idea…why not just get Al Michaels?
— Chris Blair(@LSUTigersVoice) June 26, 2024
