Sports analytics may be outnumbered when it comes to artificial intelligence

When it comes to artificial intelligence, the sports analytics crowd may be outnumbered. The people who turned NBA games into a 3-point shooting contest aren’t quite sure what will happen when AI fully invades sports. Philadelphia 76ers general manager and analytics early adopter Daryl Morey says “this is the first thing that we don't understand.” The MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference brings together thousands of number-crunching sports fans to attack the pressing issues in games. Previous hot topics have been diversity, gambling and the slow pace of baseball games. This year's gathering has an artificial intelligence focus, with a handful of talks addressing how AI can affect sports on the field and in the front office.