Trust Will Be LA28’s Most Important AI Infrastructure

The next Olympic Games in Los Angeles will depend on artificial intelligence for far more than faster results. The real test will be whether athletes, journalists and the public can trust how those systems are used.

By:  Alexzander Awni | Sports Technology and Next Generation Correspondent

Editor: Michelle Anne Paris

Artificial intelligence will not be a side story at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. By 2028, it will be part of the infrastructure through which athletes prepare, officials evaluate competition, media organizations produce coverage and audiences experience the Games.

That makes trust as important as speed.

The International Olympic Committee launched its Olympic AI Agenda in 2024, identifying potential uses across athlete performance, competition integrity, event operations, broadcasting and fan engagement. In September 2026, the IOC followed with a Trustworthy AI Framework focused on fairness, athlete data, transparency, security and accountability.

Those principles matter because Olympic AI will operate where mistakes can affect careers, reputations and public confidence.

Paris 2024 provided an early look at the possibilities. Olympic organizers used AI-related systems to support athlete protection from online abuse, produce highlights in multiple formats and languages and improve operational efficiency. The IOC has also explored AI applications involving performance analysis and judging support.

The lesson from those efforts is not that automation should replace people. It is that powerful systems require responsible people around them.

LA28 will magnify that challenge. The Games will operate across a wide network of venues, transportation systems, communications platforms and digital services. LA28 partner Cisco has said it will support a secure networking infrastructure powered by AI across the Games’ digital footprint.

The public may never see most of that infrastructure. They will simply expect it to work.

For journalists, the AI layer creates its own responsibilities.

Automated transcription can make interviews available faster. Translation systems can help stories cross languages. Data tools can identify patterns inside thousands of results. Automated clipping and formatting can make Olympic coverage accessible to more audiences.

But speed is not verification.

A generated summary can miss context. Automated translation can distort an athlete’s meaning. A convincing synthetic image can circulate before a reporter has time to establish where it originated. A statistical system can identify a pattern without understanding the human circumstances behind it.

Olympic journalism must therefore preserve a visible chain of responsibility. Reporters should know where information came from, distinguish confirmed facts from automated interpretations and make clear when synthetic or substantially altered material is used.

The same principle applies inside competition. An AI system may assist an official, coach or athlete, but responsibility cannot disappear into the software. Human beings must remain accountable for consequential decisions.

This is especially important for younger audiences. The Olympic Games do more than crown champions. They help shape what children believe excellence looks like. If the next generation sees AI presented only as an invisible shortcut, it will learn the wrong lesson. If it sees AI used as a tool that still requires judgment, preparation and verification, the lesson becomes far more valuable.

Family First Foundation’s work through the Artificial Intelligence Institute begins with that distinction: technology should strengthen human thought, not remove the need for it.

LA28 has the opportunity to demonstrate that principle on the world’s largest sporting stage.

The success of the Games’ AI systems will not be measured only by how quickly they process information. It will be measured by whether athletes are protected, results remain credible, personal data is respected and audiences can trust what they see.

Stadiums, networks and timing systems are physical and digital infrastructure.

Trust is infrastructure too.

Disclosure

Family First Foundation publishes Family First News Desk and founded the Artificial Intelligence Institute as an education initiative. That relationship informs the News Desk’s interest in responsible, human-centered AI. This article is editorial analysis and is not sponsored by LA28, the IOC, USOPC or an Olympic commercial partner.