IOC Uses AI To Overcome Abuse On Social Media At Paris Olympics

IOC President Thomas Bach (photo: x @CGTNSportsScene)

JAKARTA - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will use AI to prevent misuse on social media aimed at 15,000 athletes and officials at the Paris Olympics next month. This was said by IOC President Thomas Bach on Friday, June 14.

The event was held amid an ongoing war in Ukraine, following the Russian invasion in 2022, and between Hamas and Israel in Gaza - an event that has led to cases of abuse on social media.

The Olympics will start on July 26 with more than 10,500 athletes competing in 32 sports, and are expected to produce more than half a billion interactions on social media during the 16-day event, according to the IOC.

"The IOC will use AI in Paris in various fields," Bach told a news conference. "One of them is protection, because we expect half a billion posts on social media during this Olympics. If someone takes one second to read each post, it will take 16 years to read it," he added.

"The IOC will provide proactive AI protection tools to protect athletes from cyber abuse. This AI tool offers extensive monitoring, including 15,000 athletes and officials. It automatically removes abuseful posts to protect athletes," he said.

Russian and Belarusian athletes will not compete under their flags but are allowed to participate as neutral athletes, which angered Moscow.

These measures will include all forms of abuse, not just political attacks. The IOC did not provide details about the types of access expected from their accounts by the athletes.

Bach also said political developments in France and the upcoming sudden parliamentary elections weeks before the Olympics will not thwart preparations or the Olympics themselves. "No, we are not worried," Bach said. "Both the government and their opposition all expressed not only their wishes but also their determination that France showed the best at the Olympics opportunity."

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday held a sudden parliamentary election at the end of this month after the National Rally anti-immigration and euroskeptic party came out victorious in the European Parliament election.