A look at the AI-assisted Judging Support System for scoring in gymnastics that made its debut at the 2023 world championships and helps settle disputes
and it could deliver the U.S. men's gymnastics team a medal Mastodon: @waxy@xoxo.zone : The AI Keeps the Score: long Verge feature on the development of AI-assisted aids for judging gymnastics https://www.theverge.com/... X: Dvora Meyers / @dvorameyers : I'm a nerd who loves to think about judging and scoring way too much. Like 6k words too much. https://www.theverge.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Sports technology had already been applied to athlete performance, including ML-based wave forecasting and biomechanics data in surfing, while the 2022 World Cup used player tracking to support offside calls. Gymnastics extends that trajectory into a judging process where disputed scores can directly determine results.
The system's 2023 world-championship debut makes it a concrete test of AI as decision support rather than a replacement for officials. Its relevance is heightened by the possibility that a close scoring decision could affect the U.S. men's medal outcome.
First-order effects
- Gymnastics judges gain an AI-assisted input for scoring reviews and dispute resolution, potentially making contested calls more evidence-based and faster to adjudicate.
- Athletes and national teams, including the U.S. men's team, face a scoring process in which marginal medal outcomes may be revisited with additional technical support.
Second-order effects
- Federations and event organizers will need clear procedures for when the system is consulted, how its output is weighed against human judgment, and how challenges are resolved.
- The deployment strengthens the case for computer-vision and tracking tools in other officiating settings, following the use of player-tracking technology for World Cup offside decisions.
Third-order effects
- If such systems become routine, sports governance will increasingly depend on auditable decision-support systems: confidence in results will rest not only on officials but also on transparent review processes around the technology.
- The broader divide may be between sports that can validate AI-assisted calls within their rules and those where the technology's limits or contestability prevent it from becoming authoritative.
The trend: Competitive sports are moving from AI tools that analyze performance toward governed AI systems that help adjudicate high-stakes outcomes.