For decades, Al Michaels has been a fixture in millions of Americans' homes as a veteran sportscaster for major sporting events around the world. In recent years, his voice has become synonymous with NBC's Olympics broadcasts. This year, his voice will still be a part of the network's coverage, but it won't be coming out of his mouth.
NBC just announced that an AI version of Michaels' voice will narrate Peacock's "Your Daily Olympic Recap," which will compile thousands of hours of live footage from the Games to create approximately 10 minutes' worth of highlights for each user. The large language model (LLM) analyzes video subtitles and metadata to create text that is then used in a voice AI model trained using Michaels' past NBC appearances. It even reportedly incorporates his unique pronunciations of certain words and phrases.
Michaels himself had to be convinced to lend his voice to the new technology. "What would I sound like?" Michaels wondered, recounting his initial reaction to Vanity Fair. “Would I sound like a guy who just spews clichés? Would my voice be different?"
He confessed he was "very skeptical" of the idea until he heard it for himself. "Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing. And it was a little bit frightening," he said. What surprised him particularly was the way the AI captured the small details of his speaking voice. "It was not only close, it was almost two percent off perfect,” he said. “I’m thinking, 'Whoa.'"
"It sounded like what I might say in certain situations," he added.
According to NBC, there could possibly be seven million personalized versions of the recaps. On top of that, a team of human editors will review the content before it's released to viewers.
Even though it's certainly a new phase in Michaels' career, he's happy that it'll keep him—or rather, his voice—involved in Olympics coverage.
"I just sat there and thought, 'In the next life, I’m going to need a new profession,'" he said. "Even though it’s an odd way to transition to something—not calling the events, not really recording anything—it does keep me somewhat attached to the Olympic Games, which I’ve always loved."
The Olympics kick off July 26 in Paris.
