Keynote Lecture

How to participate

Participation is free, but registration is recommended to have a guaranteed seat.
Registrations will be open until April 21st or until places are filled.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the global sport ecosystem, offering unprecedented opportunities to enhance decision-making, reduce bias and strengthen competitive advantage. Yet its most transformative potential lies not only in what it can do, but in how it compels us to rethink long-standing human systems. This keynote examines three interconnected frontiers where applied AI in sport provides powerful insights for many industries navigating digital transformation.

First, talent identification, traditionally a blend of intuition, experience, and subjective judgment, remains vulnerable to bias, stereotypes, and structural inequities. Emerging AI-driven scouting tools promise greater consistency and transparency, while raising critical questions about data access and quality, algorithmic fairness, and the evolving relationship between human expertise and machine intelligence. Drawing on current research, this session explores how organizations can integrate AI to reduce, rather than reinforce, bias and what sport can teach other sectors about responsible, human-centered adoption.

Second, the provocative question “Could AI judge the Olympics?” serves as a lens to examine the limits of automation in high-stakes, high-ambiguity contexts. From aesthetic sports to officiating decisions, AI exposes tensions between objectivity and artistry, tensions mirrored in healthcare, finance, education and creative industries.

Finally, the keynote highlights the growing convergence between scholarly research, AI innovation, and industry practice. Together, these themes position sport as a microcosm for broader societal debates about trust, fairness, and the future of human-AI collaboration.

About the speaker

Laurel Walzak is an Associate Professor in RTA Sport Media at Toronto Metropolitan University and the founder of the Global Experiential Sport Lab (GXSLab), a leading research hub focused on sport media and technology. She has co‑authored two books on global sport media vectors and has collaborated with major corporations, sport organizations, and broadcasters in both advisory and consulting roles. She currently serves on the Hype Sports Innovation AI Workshop Series Steering Committee and on the Global Advisory Board for Common Ground Research Networks’ Sport and Society.

Walzak holds an MBA with a finance specialization from Queen’s University and is in her final year of a PhD at London South Bank University’s Business School, where her research focuses on sport management and audience studies. She also holds a certificate from MIT Sloan’s CSAIL Artificial Intelligence program and is currently an academic guest at the University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA), in Switzerland.