The World Anti-Doping Agency is on a search—not just for athletes using drugs to gain an unfair advantage, but for proposals for using artificial intelligence to help catch those athletes.
According to iNews, a UK news source, the agency is requesting proposals for AI pilots to help better catch suspicious athletes, send warnings, and perform targeted testing. An athlete detected by any artificial intelligence program as being under suspicion would automatically be targeted for more testing, it was reported.
The artificial intelligence program would also be used to analyze data from other anti-doping agencies and detect patterns. According to iNews, an AI program could make up for lag in doping investigations caused by understaffing and a lack of funds at the World Anti-Doping Agency. AI could also help trigger alerts that bring athletes in for more testing.
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SportTechie Takeaway:
The World Anti-Doping Agency could use the help, it seems. SportTechie in January reported on the problems the agency faces due to what a prominent professor called “flaws in doping regulation,” stemming from the addition of banned substances without sufficient evidence to prove their effectiveness. With artificial intelligence in play, WADA could easily figure out which substances are truly worthy of a ban and which athletes and organizations are using those substances. What could further help the agency in their mission is an app released last year by the International Centre for Sport Security that tells athletes if medicines and drugs they’re using are banned.