The Winter X Games will have a whole new set of participants when the sporting event begins later this week. It’s a referee with artificial intelligence.
At X Games Aspen 2025, experimental Google Cloud-based AI technology will be used to analyze and judge competitors in the Snowboard Superpipe event. The AI judges’ scores will not affect the results, but will be evaluated for actual use at future X Games events.
“Our goal is…maybe this could be a tool that sits next to the judge, with four judges and this (actual) judge, or maybe a piece of technology that the judge can interact with. It could be. They certainly got the trick right,” Jeremy Bloom told USA TODAY.
AI judges analyzing live video of snowboarders’ runs can more accurately capture “landings, grabs, and all sorts of other things,” which could be used to “give superpowers” to human judges. Bloom said there is. He was appointed CEO of X Games in December 2024.
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AI’s role in sports is expanding
AI judgment is already being experimented with in some sports. Artificial intelligence software tracked all gymnastics competitors at the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, MIT Technology Review reported. Although an AI court system will not replace human judges, judges can use it to resolve inquiries.
Major League Baseball is experimenting with robot umpires to call strikes and balls, possibly in 2026. Some soccer leagues, including Serie A and La Liga, use semi-automatic offside technology, and the Premier League was due to start using it this season, but has postponed its introduction. ESPN reported in September 2024.
Bloom, a freestyle and mogul ski champion and two-time Olympian, said AI refereeing makes sense once the technology is ready. He also played football at the University of Colorado and made it to the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Some referees make bad decisions and in some cases the consequences can be very large,” he said. “I always think about the athletes because I know how much they care, how much they prepare, and I think about them objectively across sports. Because I know how much sex I should take.”
Judges equipped with artificial intelligence have ‘amazing accuracy’
Following his athletic career, Bloom founded Integrate, a B2B technology marketing company that was acquired by private equity firm Audax.
When Bloom became CEO of X Games in December 2024, he called his friend, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who knew nothing about AI. Brin stepped down as president of parent company Alphabet in 2019, but remains on the company’s board of directors.
They both have an active interest in action sports, and Bryn asked Bloom, “What do you think we can do together?” He floated the idea of building “the world’s first AI referee that can utilize every cutting-edge technology that may exist on the cutting edge to bring more objectivity to a subjective sport like the X Games.” I let it happen.
AI judges use Google’s Vertex AI development platform. The platform is also used by the English Football Association by national teams to assess potential players, and international fitness company Technogym uses it for its AI-driven virtual trainer, Technogym Coach.
Bloom said a series of high-resolution cameras capture the snowboarders’ runs, and the footage is analyzed by AI software, its “decision framework” models trained on countless amounts of snowboarding data.
“We’ll be able to monitor every millisecond of your run and determine things like economy of movement, which is important for snowboarding superpipe… (and) performing backflips,” he said. “You can tell if a rider is limping, which is a deductible. You know what a good landing looks like, and you know what a normal landing looks like. And We know that with amazing precision.”
The technology will be used as part of the broadcast of Thursday night’s Men’s Snowboard Superpipe Finals and Saturday night’s Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Finals. The X Games will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, and Roku streaming devices.
When AI analysis of a snowboard run is displayed on-air, the AI software can also become a commentator, explaining the action in the language of the competitors.
“I think what viewers are going to see is a glimpse into the future and a real technological glimpse into the future of where this is going,” Bloom said.
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Look for more use of AI judges during X Games Sacramento in August and in 2026 when X Games launches an eight-team global league.
“When we acquired X Games, our goal was to reimagine the unique fan experience and increase access to the world’s premier athletes,” Jeff Moorad, CEO of X Games parent company MSP Sports Capital, said in a statement. Ta. MSP acquired X Games in October 2022, with ESPN holding a minority stake. “The partnership between X Games and Google is a great example of how we can leverage technology to enhance experiences.”
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