Umpires will have a little help behind home plate in some minor league games this season – from a "robot ump." Major League Baseball announced Thursday that select games in the Low-A Southeast will use a robot to help call balls and strikes. The use of the technology, called the Automatic Ball-Strike System, will also "ensure a consistent strike zone is called, and determine the optimal strike zone for the system," according to MLB. The robot's use is one of a number of experimental rules announced Thursday, which the league said are "designed to increase action on the basepaths, create more balls in play, improve the pace and length of games, and reduce player injuries." MLB has often tried out rules in the minor leagues it is considering for the majors.

I like to watch rugby, even though I know very little about it. They rightfully believe they're talking to people who watch rugby a lot, so they feel no need to address me, personally, with rugby-for-dummies spiels that might give me an appreciation for the game. But emerging technology could soon solve my problem. Some companies are working on AI that will generate custom sports commentary, which means I could potentially tune into a streaming rugby game and listen to a human-sounding, AI-driven robot commentator that already understands my level of rugby savvy. Maybe my robot commentator will patiently explain the difference between a blood bin and a tight head.

The Associated Press on Thursday announced that it is now covering Minor League Baseball games nationally using artificial intelligence and software from Automated Insights, and data from MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the official statistics provider for Minor League Baseball. Automatically generated stories cover games that AP Sports' human writers weren't reporting on or traveling to anyway, including: Triple-A, Double-A and Class A games, across 142 MLB-affiliated teams and 13 leagues. So if you're worried that technology is "stealing jobs" from promising sports writers, rest easy. According to the AP's deputy director of sports products, Barry Bedlan, the AP actually hired automation experts to develop, manage and integrate MiLB coverage. The move was not exactly unexpected, either.

The Associated Press on Thursday announced that it is now covering Minor League Baseball games nationally using artificial intelligence and software from Automated Insights, and data from MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the official statistics provider for Minor League Baseball. Automatically generated stories cover games that AP Sports' human writers weren't reporting on or traveling to anyway, including: Triple-A, Double-A and Class A games, across 142 MLB-affiliated teams and 13 leagues. So if you're worried that technology is "stealing jobs" from promising sports writers, rest easy. According to the AP's deputy director of sports products, Barry Bedlan, the AP actually hired automation experts to develop, manage and integrate MiLB coverage. The move was not exactly unexpected, either.