Google DeepMind now offers an AI helper for football insights, so forget about commentators

A fast corner kick that caught the Spanish squad off guard made Liverpool FC’s goal against FC Barcelona in the 2019 UEFA Champions League semi-finals one of the most memorable moments. In 2024, Google worked with the English Premier League team to create a comprehensive artificial intelligence system that could provide managers with advice about corner kicks.

In an article published in Nature Communications, Google DeepMind described TacticAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) system that uses generative and predictive AI to provide specialists tactical insights, especially on corner kicks.

One of the high-potential methods by which teams may get goals is via corner kicks. However, since there is a lot of movement in and around the goal area, it may be challenging to attack and defend on corners. It is claimed that TacticAI can create strategies for teams and spot trends in competing squads.
The operation of TacticAI
Google DeepMind revealed that TacticAI used a geometric deep learning method to help construct more generalizable models, despite the lack of gold-standard data on corner kicks.
In the course of a multi-year research cooperation, we worked with specialists from Liverpool Football Club to build and assess TacticAI. Ninety percent of the time, human expert raters preferred TacticAI’s recommendations to tactical configurations seen in real-world scenarios, the business said.
The AI model recognises important tactical patterns used by opposing teams in earlier plays and generates smart tweaks to increase the likelihood of a certain result. Teams tasked with creating the AI model concentrate on studying corner kicks since they provide coaches with the most immediate avenues for enhancements and interventions.
TacticAI, according to Google DeepMind, combines a generative and predictive component, which enables the coaches to efficiently sample and investigate different player formations for every corner kick routine. They are able to choose configurations with the best chance of success because of this.
The business uses a variety of benchmark activities, including receiver and shot attempt prediction and player position recommendation, to evaluate TacticAI. Additionally, Liverpool FC’s football domain specialists verify TacticAI’s usefulness.