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Debuted in Aspen, X games Leverage Google Cloud’s AI technology to enhance the objectivity of subjectively judged sports.
X Games CEO and sports business veteran Jeremy Bloom said in an interview with GamesBeat that the goal is to deepen fan engagement and provide valuable insights that resonate with both fans and athletes. spoke.
X Games will debut new experimental AI technology developed in collaboration with Google Cloud during the Superpipe competition at X Games Aspen 2025, aiming to bring new insights and deeper levels of engagement to fans . The January 23rd to January 25th event will be a sold-out event, with tens of thousands of attendees and billions of impressions expected across social, website and linear partners.
The technology will be unveiled at the X Games event in Aspen on Thursday. One of the human leaders among the X Games judges was part of the team implementing it.
“The first thing we do is watch practice and try to predict who will be in the top three among the snowboarders,” Bloom said. “It will also carry over everything from Freerider, explaining the entire run and bringing back the history of the athlete.”
Bloom said the sport has fans all over the world and commentary will be in multiple languages, including Japanese. Players are then judged based on their scores. According to Bloom, this particular X Games won’t award X Games medals based on AI scores, in part because the technology is so new and not necessarily perfect yet. It is said that But we will be able to see how AI judges compare to human judges.
“We’re excited to screen it, preview it and show the power of what it does,” Bloom said. “I think this is the future of sports.”
It is built on Google’s Vortex large-scale language model. Bloom said the robot is good at performing on user requests and can be trained using footage of events, such as what a good landing looks like and what a good landing looks like. Bloom said the goal is not to replace human judges, but to bring more accuracy, fairness and transparency to what has until now been a purely human, subjective process. . Similar to how basketball referees use “instant replay,” such technology is not used in snow sports. Everything is based on what the human judges see at the moment of the competition.
“You have to make sure you know every trick in snowboarding,” Bloom says. “Understanding the economics of exercise seems to be a difficult problem.”
The aim of AI technology is to increase the objectivity of judged sports, increase fan engagement, and explore the potential to provide athletes with further insight into their performance. Analyze the men’s and women’s superpipe competition events. The boys will compete on Thursday and Saturday.
As the X Games celebrates its 30th anniversary, the introduction of this technology explores how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence can complement human judges and provide fans with a more detailed understanding of the competition. It represents a step towards.
We will monitor the qualifying rounds and make decisions that will be shown to the audience and live events after a certain time delay. Spectators will see the results presented by human judges. There will be snowboarding and skiing for both men and women, with a total of 18 events.
“This idea has been in my head for decades,” Bloom said. “With the technology we have at our disposal, mistakes should never happen. That was shaped by my 20 years as a professional athlete.”
Bloom said the technology is cutting-edge and will bring greater transparency and fairness to reviews. you
“I don’t think anything like this would have been possible last year,” he said. “It manifests itself in ways that amaze me. Athletes say it’s like having a coach in your pocket.”
structure
X Games AI uses tools from Google Cloud, including Vertex AI and advanced large-scale language models, to analyze video footage and capture data on metrics such as airtime, trick difficulty, and execution.
This system is designed to provide deeper analysis of each run, giving fans further understanding. The technology was developed with input from X Games judges, athletes and analysts to ensure it meets the needs of the competition.
“This is just the beginning,” Bloom said. “While we are still in the early stages of development when it comes to applying AI to action sports, it is amazing what our model can already do. Aspen allows us to test its capabilities and create transparency for both fans and athletes. , equity, and engagement.”
Part of a broader change
The introduction of X Games AI is consistent with X Games’ continued efforts to evolve the competition. In 2026, the Action Sports Gaming League (XGL) will launch a new team-based format that allows athletes to compete for both individual and team ratings. The league will also include interactive features such as fantasy sports, betting, real-time analytics, and expanded fan engagement opportunities.
“X Games AI is an early experiment, but it reflects our commitment to finding ways to improve the competition and fan experience,” Bloom added. “We look forward to gathering feedback from our debut in Aspen and refining the technology based on those insights.”
X Games Aspen 2025 provides an opportunity to evaluate tool performance and gather input from stakeholders. Further updates regarding X Games AI and its potential applications will be published in the coming months.
MSP Sports Capital CEO Jeff Moorad said in a statement: The partnership between X Games and Google is a great example of how we leverage technology to enhance experiences. ”
