California Ready for AI Olympics

The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius—Communiter: Faster, Higher, Stronger—Together. But at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games, "together" included algorithms. While these Games will be remembered for Alysa Liu's exuberance and Team USA's double hockey gold, they also marked a permanent turning point: the moment Artificial Intelligence (AI) became an essential part of the Olympic story.

When the Olympic cauldron reached Milan, over 450 high-resolution cameras were already capturing data across 17 replay systems. Within seconds, AI produced 360-degree freeze-frame replays of figure skating jumps and curling infractions that once required days of manual editing. When IOC President Kirsty Coventry called Milano Cortina the realization of an "intelligent future," she wasn't exaggerating. These Games were a high-stakes stress test for the AI infrastructure now reshaping medicine, finance, and global security.

In an era where athletes compete by thousandths of a second, AI is fundamentally changing the nature of judgement. OMEGA's Computer Vision system—deployed across 116 events—used 8K cameras to track every skater's movement in 3D. As Swiss Timing CEO Alain Zobrist noted, the system tracks trajectory and position across all three axes, with future versions set to auto-flag incomplete rotations down to the degree.

This precision isn't just for the judges; it's the new frontier of American coaching. The U.S. bobsled team used machine learning to override human "natural tendency," as Director of Sport Performance Curt Tomasevicz explained, using AI to prescribe athlete-specific entry protocols for maximum power. Similarly, U.S. speedskating's Shane Domer described their AI tools as "a wind tunnel in your pocket," quantifying micro-adjustments invisible to the naked eye.

The shift from generic training to "digital twins" represents a massive leap in longevity science. The work of Tata Consultancy Services and Dassault Systèmes creating a digital twin heart for marathoner Des Linden proves that Olympic innovation is the laboratory for broader human health. With a 2025 Scientific Reports study finding that hybrid AI models can predict athletic performance with 90% accuracy, the guesswork of human peak performance is evaporating.

These advancements in tech innovation are more than a sporting milestone, but a market signal. The American sports technology market is projected to grow to $68.7 billion by 2030, with AI as its engine. Major tech partners are already deploying proprietary models for LA 2028 to manage everything from athlete biometrics to the logistics of 70,000 staff members.

But the systems required to power an AI-driven Olympics are not confined to stadiums. They are the technologies that underpin modern defense, intelligence, and critical supply chains. The nation that can seamlessly integrate AI across a sprawling, high-visibility event like the Olympic Games is demonstrating more than organizational prowess; it is signaling dominance in the architecture of the next global economy.

America's foreign adversaries understand this. China's sports technology investments mirror its broader push to set the technological standards that advantage its values. The Olympics provide a proving ground—not only for athletes, but for the AI race. Open, innovation-driven systems are being tested against surveillance-heavy ones on the world stage. By channeling this momentum into high-margin jobs and domestic innovation, America can secure both the podium and our technological edge against authoritarian rivals.

The World Economic Forum projects AI will generate a net gain of 78 million jobs worldwide by 2030. Because of its existing tech ecosystem, Los Angeles is uniquely positioned to capture a disproportionate share of this wave. Unlike previous host cities that relied on temporary construction, LA28's economic stimulus will be weighted toward long-term employment in software, analytics, and AI services.

Milano Cortina 2026 was the Games where AI graduated from novelty to necessity. For athletes, managers, and fans, the signal is clear: personalized, data-driven optimization is the new baseline.

With two years until the torch reaches Los Angeles, we must invest boldly in AI training pipelines that link sports science to broader tech applications, scale the domestic startups currently pioneering these analytics, and build the workforce that will power the most technologically advanced Games in history. Atlanta has its Centennial Park and Salt Lake City its Olympic Arch; but LA will create high-margin jobs lasting far beyond the closing ceremony.