Athletes are often celebrated when times are good and games and championships are won. The same athletes are often criticized when they lose games or fall short of expectations set by fans. This storyline played out in a postgame media session after the Milwaukee Bucks saw an early exit from the NBA Playoffs.
What Happened: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has cautioned about what the future could look like with the growth of artificial intelligence and the increasing use of ChatGPT.
Cuban could see ChatGPT replacing sports reporters in the future, given the questions that are typically asked by human reporters in the field.
The Mavericks owner shared his take on questions asked by sports reporters after losses after a video of Bucks’ star Giannis Antetokounmpo went viral addressing “failure” in sports.
“Great response @Giannis_An34. This response should be required viewing for every sports media member and sports journalism teacher and student. Headline seeking questions that look good in a tweet are what sports media has developed to far too often,” Cuban tweeted.
Cuban said that it is not every sports writer who falls into this category, and that sometimes difficult questions and difficult answers are part of the game.
“But gotcha questions are still far more common than insightful questions. And questions about actual basketball strategy are rare. How far away are we from @sportswriterGPT being a better source of post game questions? It will be interesting to see where this side of the industry goes.”
After the Game 5 overtime loss and playoff elimination, Antetokounmpo was asked if the 2022-2023 season was a failure by a reporter.
“You ask me the same question last year, do you get the promotion every year at your job, no right, so every year you work it’s a failure,” Antetokounmpo replied. “Every year you work towards a goal which is to get a promotion, be able to take care of your family.”
The NBA star said he didn’t want to make it personal but told the reporter they were asking the wrong question, as losing isn’t a failure, but rather a step towards success.
“There’s no failure in sports, there’s good days, there’s bad days. You don’t always win.”
Antetokounmpo said it was over 50 years since the Bucks had won an NBA Championship before he helped the team win the title in the 2020-2021 season and asked if the previous years were all a failure.
“Michael Jordan played 15 years, won 6 championships, the other 9 years was a failure? That’s what you’re telling me”
The NBA player said he and the Bucks can come back next year and try to be better and “hopefully we can win a championship.”
Related Link: Mark Cuban Says This Is The Key To Controlling Your Own Destiny And Making Big Time Money
Why It’s Important: Cuban argued that ChatGPT could generate the same questions that some sports writers are asking after games. The team owner gave the following prompt to ChatGPT as shared on his Twitter:
“You are an NBA sports reporter. You are asking questions to the star of the top rated team in the conference that just lost a first round playoff series to the lowest seeded team. What questions will you ask him?”
The prompt generated ten questions including the following topics:
- Thoughts and feeling on surprising loss
- Main factors that led to defeat, how to address in offseason
- Any specific moments or plays that had a significant impact on series
- How will it affect prep for next season
- Did you underestimate the lowest seed team
- What kind of leadership role to help teammates mentally and emotionally as the star
- Key areas of improvement in offseason
- How maintain strong team chemistry and regroup
- Learn from this setback and come back stronger
- Message for your fans who are disappointed after early exit
The prompt came after a sports reporter questioned Cuban on whether ChatGPT could be better at questions for players.
Cuban said “This AI could get a job in the business” in a later tweet. When asked if Cuban would use ChatGPT to evaluate the roster and salary cap of the Mavericks, he told the person that the data only goes through September 2021, so he would have to feed it more data, replying with “never know.”
The Bucks entered the 2022-2023 NBA Playoffs as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and the overall betting favorite to win the NBA Championship, with odds of +240 at FanDuel to start the playoffs.
A huge betting favorite to win the first-round series against the Miami Heat, the loss by the Bucks in the first round marks the first number-one seed to lose in the first round since 2011.
Since Antetokounmpo entered the NBA and was drafted by the Bucks, the team has made the playoffs in eight of the ten seasons, including seven straight.
For more on the sports betting landscape and what could be next for popular betting segments and legislation, tune in to the Benzinga Sports Betting Titans virtual event on May 24.
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