An AI-powered camera system used to automatically track and broadcast a Scottish football match repeatedly mistook a bald linesman's head for the ball, causing fans to miss the action including the team's only goal.
Scottish football team Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club deployed an AI-powered camera system to automatically livestream their match against Ayr United on YouTube due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions that prevented fans from attending. The camera was programmed to automatically track the ball throughout the match, eliminating the need for a human camera operator. However, the AI system malfunctioned and repeatedly mistook a bald linesman's head for the ball, continuously focusing on the official instead of following the actual gameplay. This technical failure frustrated fans who were relying on the livestream as their only way to watch the match due to social distancing measures. The incident was particularly problematic because fans missed seeing their team's lone goal due to the camera tracking error. The commentator had to apologize during the broadcast for the camera's repeated mistakes. The incident occurred over a weekend in October 2020 and was widely reported on social media, highlighting the limitations of current ball-tracking AI technology in sports broadcasting.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that fail to perform reliably or effectively under varying conditions, exposing them to errors and failures that can have significant consequences, especially in critical applications or areas that require moral reasoning.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed