Al Michaels is still alive! What is NBC doing?
Have you ever wondered what the “Miracle on Ice” would’ve felt like with the cheap, wooden imitation of a legendary broadcaster? What if a soulless automaton had been on the call for Malcolm Butler’s stunning goal-line interception in Super Bowl 49?
No? Really? Clearly, you don’t want to embrace the glorious future.
Well, too bad because NBC is bringing light, depressing dystopia to your sports anyway!
In next month’s Summer Olympics, the colorful peacock network plans to have Al Michaels recap each day’s most important events. Oh, I’m sorry. That’s misleading. It won’t be the Al Michaels we all know and love from decades of calling some of the most famous moments in sports history. It’ll be an A.I. version of him trained to his voice to make it sound like one of the most iconic American broadcasters ever is blasting right into your living room or headphones.
The preview of Fake Al Michaels — who, mind you, is still very much alive at age 79 and could’ve easily done these personalized recaps himself — is as saddening as it sounds:
Personally, I love having a de facto sports Siri that sounds like it was prerecorded without any emotion or authenticity. Again, I remind you all that we live in the future.
You just can’t put a lid on human beings’ ambition!
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Michaels revealed that he gave NBC his blessing to use his voice in these A.I. Olympics recaps. While his concerns were alleviated, he still didn’t sound too enthused — and understandably so.
More from Vanity Fair:
Michaels was “very skeptical” of the proposal—until he heard the A.I. for himself. “Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing,” he told me in a phone interview last weekend. “And it was a little bit frightening.” Michaels was left in awe of the nuance—the way it captured his intonations and verbal subtleties. “It was not only close, it was almost 2 percent off perfect,” he said. “I’m thinking, Whoa.”
I understand Michaels’ fears. Any time a broadcast company decides to use a voice you might find in a video game like Madden, it can make a person’s stomach queasy.
Still, that’s not the main takeaway I have from this whole fiasco.
It’s dispiriting that NBC is content to imitate one of the biggest sports voices it has ever had, especially since he is still alive and kicking. Michaels does a pro football game every week on a streaming service during the NFL season. He couldn’t have come back to NBC to record a few lines for a worldwide sports event? I find that hard to believe.
It’s troublesome that these kinds of decisions might soon define our sports-watching and sports-consuming future, which is only a microcosm of a greater collective. When the human element is even excised from the broadcast booth — the one place where a fan should always reasonably expect dependability and energy — then nothing is off limits.
Most of all, watching companies like NBC willingly hop into bed with these sorts of services without even a second thought is infuriating. And it doesn’t matter why they have decided to do so, either. Be it to cut costs or to invest in a hollow foundation devoid of any real exciting spark, it all comes from the same place of desperation and motivation. It’s all borne of the same brand of business cowardice to “get ahead or get left behind” without ever thinking about potential long-term consequences.
Having A.I. Al Michaels recap the Olympics is a sign of overzealousness, of NBC trying to jump onto a fad no one on the outside looking in wants a part of. I sure hope this doesn’t balloon into something much more expansive down the line. Otherwise, I’ll likely soon be inclined to agree with Michaels’ initial thoughts about his fear.
Do you believe in miracles? Well, this wouldn’t qualify.
