Sinclair Broadcast Group says it will use artificial intelligence (AI) to translate some of its tennis coverage into Spanish.
Machine learning tools will first be used for the Tennis Channel’s series “Petko Unfiltered,” hosted by former German professional tennis player and network analyst Andrea Petkovic.
The show airs in several European countries on regional variants of the Tennis Channel, with translated episodes debuting in Spain later this year. The same episodes air on T2, Sinclair’s tennis-focused free, ad-supported streaming television channel, in the United States.
The translations will be produced by HeyGen, an AI-focused video company that specializes in translation and lip-synchronization services, Sinclair said in a press release on Tuesday.
HeyGen will not only provide translations in Spanish: The video production firm can also change Petkovic’s facial expressions, so they match the translated speech that is overlaid as an audio track.
“Generative AI is set to transform the world we live in; and Sinclair is enthusiastic about leveraging the technology to make our original content accessible to a bigger audience through language translation,” Chris Ripley, Sinclair’s President and CEO, said in a statement.
“At the same time, we believe that upholding ethical standards in media through AI implementation is paramount,” Ripley continued. “We recognize our duty to employ AI with integrity and transparency, to safeguard not only our industry’s reputation but also the trust of our audiences. At Sinclair, we take this responsibility seriously, which is why we have chosen to voluntarily and proactively join the leading organizations dedicated to promoting responsible practices.”
Sinclair is one of several media and entertainment companies participating in the Content Authenticity Initiative, or CAI, a global effort that aims to address digital misinformation — some of which can be spread globally through the Internet using machine-learning and other AI tools.
Sinclair itself has taken things a step further by forming its own independent AI-focused workgroup called the Sinclair AI Forum (SAIF), which aims to facilitate the sharing of best practices across the media, entertainment, technology and government sectors with a specific focus on strategic guidance and compliance.
As part of its initiative, Sinclair says all episodes that include AI-generative translations on the Tennis Channel in Europe and T2 in the United States will include a disclaimer during the show, along with a prominent QR code that takes viewers to a transparency portal on the Tennis Channel website that further explains the network’s use if AI tools.
The transparency portal says viewers will be able to switch between the original version of an episode and the translated version that uses AI tools, so they can compare both products. Sinclair has also set up an email address — ai@tennischannel.com — where viewers can offer feedback on the network’s use of AI tools.
