There haven’t been many instances of artificial intelligence in sports media that have been met with a positive reaction. You can now add Canada’s Rogers-owned Sportsnet to that list thanks to a video they put out on social media ahead of Wednesday’s first game of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, featuring their analysts as…AI-generated babies? With a strange behind-the-scenes look at how the segment broke down?
Oh Baby, the #StanleyCup Final sequel is here! 👶🏆
The Sportsnet panel gives us their tiny keys ahead of Game 1.
📺 Panthers vs. Oilers TONIGHT at 7:30pm ET / 5:30pm MT on Sportsnet | Visual by @JunkBoxAi pic.twitter.com/aQ2MWVx2wt
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 4, 2025
These AI-generated animations of Sportsnet/CBC’s pregame, between-periods, and postgame show panelists — Ron MacLean, Kelly Hrudey, Elliotte Friedman, and Kevin Bieksa — are quite something. And they garnered a lot of criticism, including from ex-ESPN figure Keith Olbermann (who has previously expressed a lot of opinions on Canadian hockey coverage):
Just stop with this crap
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 4, 2025
Oh my.
— Kukla’s Korner (@kuklaskorner) June 4, 2025
Sportsnet should be embarrassed. This is some A+ garbage. Hire and pay people @Sportsnet! https://t.co/nYTjipVsBq
— Holly McNeill (@Wally_Holly15) June 4, 2025
This is a spectacularly bad idea that somehow manages to be even worse in execution. https://t.co/zHGVSoDhtL
— Matt MacInnis (@Matt_MacInnis) June 4, 2025
Really gross that billion-dollar companies like Rogers are using AI instead of paying human beings to create content. https://t.co/XjE7rPat3q
— James Bridges (@JamesMBridges) June 4, 2025
This fits into a wider recent tradition of media companies and leagues utilizing AI, often getting criticism for doing so. However, it’s interesting to observe this particular usage in conjunction with a specific AI video creator and the backlash it drew.
Unlike some of those other moves, this isn’t new content enabled by AI, unlike a translation or a personalized highlight. It’s pregame analysis content Sportsnet would usually have done with conventional video of these analysts. However, for some reason, they chose to partner with an AI company to release this, featuring baby versions of these analysts, and that was far from universally well-received.