Technologies that will change the way you watch the 2026 Winter Olympics

During 2024 At the Paris Summer Olympics, 5G and 4K were pioneering technologies available to many viewers. There was some artificial intelligence, but it was mostly used to benefit athletes. For the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games, there will be more technology than ever before, for both athletes and fans.

Much of this technology has not been used at the Games before, says Yannis Exarchos, managing director of Olympic Broadcast Services and CEO of Olympic Channel Services. The two organizations are responsible for producing much of the television, radio and digital coverage and content on Olympics.com. “At Milano Cortina, people will have unprecedented experiences,” says Exarchos.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Drone observations of athletes’ performance

One of the big technologies coming to the Milan Cortina Olympics is first-person shooter drones. These remote-controlled aircraft transmit images from onboard cameras in real time “to provide dynamic perspectives on the race tracks,” Exarchos explains.

This year’s Games will be the first to offer real-time, 360-degree replay. Introduced as part of a collaboration with Alibaba, the system uses multi-camera replay systems and binocular analysis to deliver multi-angle views, still frames and slow-motion images of the athlete’s amazing moves.

Another first thing is a new tracking system for curling stones. “It will be possible to see the path, speed and rotation of each stone in real time,” explains Exarchos. Funicular cameras and ice-level views will help viewers better understand the game, as will detailed stone track graphics and real-time data.

New AI tool for the Olympics: Olympic GPT

Do you have a question about this year’s games? Olympic GPT is here to help. The bot specializes in producing content for Olympics.com. It will provide real-time results and information about sports regulations, and for the first time, it will have the ability to interact with questions about the results of ongoing competitions.

“AI-based article summaries on Olympics.com will give fans a quick, clear overview,” says Exarchos. “It highlights key points to help users decide what to explore further, while also improving accessibility and reading from mobile devices.”

Virtual video production

For the 2026 Winter Olympics, much of the video production will be moved to the cloud. Virtual Out Broadcast (OB) vans will help decentralize the process of transmitting images from events to fans’ screens. Organizers say the use of virtual cloud infrastructure helps reduce energy consumption by about 50 percent and enables remote production of events such as curling and speed skating.

Everything will be managed through a fully cloud-based main control room that was recently tested at the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in January. There, space was saved by 75 percent compared to the previous tournament, while energy consumption was reduced by 65 percent.

The big data moment at the Olympics

For this year’s Winter Games, Olympic Broadcasting Services is also testing an automated description platform to help teams manage the huge volume of live-streamed video during their events. “AI breaks down broadcasts into searchable clips, suggests shot descriptions and keywords, and helps users quickly find highlights, making storytelling faster and easier,” says Exarchos. The AI ​​will then analyze real-time traffic increases on Olympics.com and identify the most valuable moments for fans.

This story originally appeared on Wired Italy. It has been translated from Italian.