Al Michaels returns to the Olympics — as the AI voice of Peacock
As legendary sportscaster Al Michaels would say, you can’t make this up. Or maybe you can.
NBC Sports announced Wednesday that it will use the voice of Michaels, re-created using artificial intelligence, in a personalized daily recap of Summer Olympics events delivered to NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service subscribers.
Peacock users will be able to sign up and choose their favorite events. The information will be used to create “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” a customized program of video highlights narrated by Michaels’ AI voice likeness. Most users will even be addressed by name in the recap.
The recaps will be assembled from hundreds of NBC Sports-produced clips each day. They will run for around 10 minutes, showing moments from the prior day along with a look ahead to what fans can expect to see on NBC in prime time. Up to six users per Peacock subscription can get recaps.
The AI re-creation of Michaels, 79, was trained by his past appearances on NBC Sports broadcasts. Michaels was in the booth for 16 seasons of NFL “Sunday Night Football.” He was a daytime anchor for NBC’s Olympics coverage in 2010 and 2012.
After 36 seasons calling games for ABC and NBC, Michaels will be the voice of experience for the tech giant’s exclusive weekly game.
Michaels, who is currently the lead play-by-play announcer on Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football,” is also the voice of one of the most famous Olympics moments in history. He forever defined the U.S. hockey team’s win over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., with his phrase, “Do you believe in miracles?”
The Brentwood resident said he believes in AI.
“When I was approached about this, I was skeptical but obviously curious,” Michaels said in a statement. “Then I saw a demonstration detailing what they had in mind. I said, ‘I’m in.’”
NBC Sports expects to create and distribute nearly 7 million personalized versions of the daily recap over the course of the Games, which run from July 27 through Aug. 11.
NBCUniversal will provide 5,000 hours of live Olympics coverage from Paris, where up to 40 events will be happening concurrently each day across its broadcast and cable platforms. Every event will be streamed live on Peacock.
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