IBM's Machine-Learning Technologies Improve Tennis' US Open Experience

Machine-learning technologies are proving their mettle in new applications seemingly every day. According to Fast Company, IBM's Watson will debut at the U.S. Open by using its own unique perspective on the action to enhance video quality for both the IBM-powered U.S. Open website and smartphone apps with the same streamed content. This will include detailed analytics from scoring "hot-spots" on the court to the distance each player has traveled during the match. In addition, these machine-learning technologies are being continually trained to understand and transcribe human commentary. IBM's Watson doesn't just cater to the analytical cravings of some 15 million online U.S. Open viewers, either; it also provides useful insight into the athletes themselves.