AI is esports’ newest weapon

Professional athletes are no strangers to the power of artificial intelligence. Whether it’s the computer vision tools that help pitchers perfect their delivery or the machine learning platform that predicts when soccer players are at risk of injury, AI is empowering athletes to achieve previously unthinkable levels of performance.

But what about professional video gamers? While spectator gaming events are not yet quite as popular as professional football or soccer, the esports industry is expected to generate $1.65 billion in U.S. revenues by 2020. With so much money at stake in one of the fastest-growing parts of the media landscape, it’s only natural that elite gamers are looking for an edge wherever they can find one.