AI in Esports
The esports scene has been growing rapidly in recent years, but not only in viewer numbers, prize-pools, and professional organizations. Certain gamers are going pro at an early age, some even right after high school. If we go 5-10 years back it was rather rare to see such young faces in the esports scene.
Today, the rapid growth of esports can be evenly matched with the rise of AI technology, with a lot of companies building AI-based training systems for esports athletes. The main explanation for this phenomenon is that as competition grows between professional gamers, so does the need to find new innovative ways to train.
In order to keep up with the competition, pro gamers have been looking to AI’s advanced systems of learning to optimize their performance in competitive matches to remain ahead of the curve.
AI is enhancing performance of esport atheletes
Looking at cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, to help enhance the performance in competitive video games was not something thought of by many people, but now it is slowly starting to make its entrance.
AI is helping elite gamers and teams to optimize their gaming performance by providing them tools that normally wouldn’t be possible by humans alone. These AI-powered systems are able to watch and analyze thousands of esports matches and then use retrieved data to determine how players can improve.
Utilizing AI allows for a more thorough way to evaluate performance. It adds another perspective to professional esports training that we see today – a perspective that would spot flaws in a gamer’s performance that originally may have not been seen. Practicing against an AI would allow for a player to evaluate the retrieved results by themselves and gradually make changes in their strategy.
Are AI esports coaches better than humans?
The news surrounding AI today often leaves many people asking the question – aren’t humans better at teaching other people how to improve, than an AI?
At the moment there really is no clear answer regarding “which is better” between AI and humans in the coaching profession. There are certain characteristics that humans possess that make them more efficient in coaching, and vice-versa.
An AI’s main strengths mainly involve gathering data and constructing a detailed report based on the data gathered. It’s pretty obvious that AI will be more efficient, both quality and time-wise, at this than the human brain. Based on the data, AI can provide more accurate results with unbiased insights, capture the even tiniest details that may have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. This is how AI proves
beneficial to esports professionals who want to gain a deeper understanding of their current abilities.
Human coaches are known to be better at things like creativity, empathy and making strategic decisions. A human coach is able to come up with new innovative ideas while adjusting it to the personalities on the team. The “human approach”, as it is
sometimes called, has proved to be beneficial in handling interactions and emotions across the players.
The future lies in the collaboration of human and AI esports coaches as they will augment their complementary forces to boost the performance of pro gamers.
