Amazon Web Services Inc. is looking to keep its eye on the ball for generative artificial intelligence and cloud computing technology in the arena.

“The cool thing about sports is it lets us at AWS tell the story of technology and the cloud and that power in a really accessible, compelling way for the average person,” said Julie Souza (pictured), head of sports and global professional services at AWS.

Souza spoke with theCUBE industry analyst John Furrier at the “Supercloud 5: The Battle for AI Supremacy” event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the ways enterprise technology is changing the sports world and how leagues are learning to engage with fans in a new way.

Bringing sports into the modern era

By collaborating with high-profile organizations, such as the National Hockey League, AWS hopes to propel sports leagues into the future with advanced data analytics.

“We’re really analyzing all of the trends and areas of opportunity for innovation in sport,” Souza aid. “Data … is a huge part of that. We’re collecting data in copious volumes that we never collected in sports before.”

Data collection on this scale could allow sports leagues to critically examine rule changes, give them important business insights and better empower them to better engage with fans.

“It’s a very collaborative process, and that’s what makes it so great is that you’re working together towards a common goal to elevate a sport,” Souza said. “How do we share data about fans to super serve them?”

Not all sports organizations are on the same page about bringing high tech into the arena, but the shift is already occurring, according to Souza. One example is the National Football League’s new sports cast, which animates games with “Toy Story” characters through player tracking data.

“Everybody sees that the future [of tech in sports] is somewhat inevitable, and the future’s actually now,” Souza said. “Fans are going to push them [sports leagues] to deliver that sort of high-end technical experience.”

One of the biggest shifts is occurring on streaming platforms, which can now deliver personalized sports content for consumers.

“Functionality and engagement and personalization will ultimately be built into the streaming environment,” said Souza, who looks forward to a future of “fan-driven” sports. Generative AI, in particular, has the potential to deliver highly personalized content based on data collected by services such as AWS.

Another part of the path toward modernizing sports is live cloud production, which allows broadcasts to be edited in the cloud in real time.

“You’re going to start to see the sports industry realize that [live cloud production] is more economical,” Souza said. “Your carbon footprint is far reduced, and you can attract a diversity of talent if you start producing in the cloud.”

As the world of sports transitions into an era of tech-fueled innovation, athletes will have to change alongside it if they don’t want to fall behind.

“The nascent athletes of today … they’re studying and they’re leaning into tech, they’re leaning into data science,” said Souza, who sees data analytics as the path to career longevity.

AWS has only started to get the ball rolling with its sports technology, so sports fans will have to wait and see if the cloud giant hits it out of the park.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the “Supercloud 5: The Battle for AI Supremacy” event:

Photo: SiliconANGLE