Nobody wants AI-generated sports commentators, but a pro golf tournament is introducing one anyway

Golf fans who tune into this week’s New Mexico Open broadcast will be introduced to a new commentator by the name of Duff Foreman. He’ll join former PGA Tour winner Notah Begay III and well-known broadcaster Ryan Burr on the call, although Foreman won’t technically be on site, seeing as how he’s not an actual person.

Foreman is believed to be the first-ever AI-generated golf commentator that will be interacting live on-screen alongside human hosts. It is expected that Foreman will jump into unscripted conversations while providing insights and commentary about the play, the golf course, weather, conditions, and the rules of the game throughout nine hours of live coverage.

The very obvious question here is why? Why are we (humans) adding an AI character (not a human) to a golf broadcast? The New Mexico Open may only be a state tournament streamed on YouTube and televised locally, but it is still a professional event with a purse of $137,000 being contested by Sun Country PGA, a section of the PGA of America.

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Begay, who will be pulling double duty and teeing it up in the tournament, tried to justify why an AI character is joining the broadcast.

“Golf fans are always looking for a better understanding of what players are thinking and why they make certain decisions,” Begay said in a press release shared by tournament organizers. “If Duff Foreman delivers what we’re expecting, he’ll become another voice in the broadcast, helping us explain strategy, analyze swings, consider changing conditions like weather and course setup, and answer questions in real time. I think that kind of conversation could make the game more interesting and enjoyable for viewers.”

Begay is right, golf fans are constantly looking for more insights involving the game and how players go about their business during competition. However, his claim that an AI-generated character that was built on a computer is going to deliver a better understanding of what a human is thinking and how said human comes to a decision may be one of the most disingenuous comments ever shared in an official press release, and in the year 2026, that is saying something.

A general view of a golf ball on a tee during the continuation of the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links on February 6, 2023 in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images) (Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

The “conversation” Begay is hopeful to have with the AI commentator will not be “enjoyable for viewers;” it will be universally hated and mocked, just like the rollout of Foreman across social media in the buildup to the event has been.

Foreman has an X account that not only posts nothing but pointless AI slop, but also has a link in the bio section that directs viewers to a YouTube channel called X-Treme Golf. There, you’ll find more AI content, such as Foreman playing golf from the summit of Mt. Everest.

Foreman and this ‘content’ are universally seen as being pointless and disturbingly dystopian, which brings us back to the original question: Why is an AI-generated commentator being added to a golf broadcast?

I think the answer is both wildly complicated and extremely straightforward.

We’re living in incredibly bizarre times where everything you look at, it seems AI is grabbing hold of whatever that something is. Whether the impact of AI is having a positive or negative impact varies depending on the situation and the humans being impacted, but AI is here, and it is evolving by the day.

All signs point to AI being a part of our new norm, and the complicated part is that nobody knows what’s around the corner, but knows that something is.

This brings us to the straightforwardness of it all.

You – and that ‘you’ includes golf broadcasts now – can not afford to be the last one to peek around the corner to see what that something is when everyone seems to be fighting to have the first glimpse.

The chipping green is pictured during practice for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 18, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images) (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

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There isn’t a world – at least we should hope there isn’t one – where the Duff Foremans of the world will start taking over sports broadcasting booths.

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The New Mexico Open and the PGA of America, however, can now say they were the first to fully integrate an AI commentator into a live golf broadcast.

In this current state of the world, where the words ‘first’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ hold real power, building something entirely unnecessary and unwanted can be viewed as a legitimate move on the never-ending chessboard that represents the AI rat race.