TLDR: The San Antonio Spurs recently held a generative AI demo day, highlighting four custom GPT applications developed in partnership with OpenAI and Stanford. These tools aim to streamline internal operations, enhance fan engagement, and optimize business development, following an ‘fail fast, fail quick’ AI strategy.
The San Antonio Spurs recently marked a significant milestone in their artificial intelligence journey by hosting a generative AI demo day, showcasing the practical applications developed through a nearly year-long training collaboration with OpenAI and Stanford professor Jeremy Utley. This event, held last Thursday, underscored the team’s commitment to an ‘fail fast, fail quick and learn’ approach to AI innovation, as articulated by Jordan Kolosey, the Spurs’ VP of business strategy, innovation and data operations.
Kolosey reflected on earlier attempts, such as ‘FanGPT,’ a generative AI kiosk introduced in the 2022-23 season at Frost Bank Center. While FanGPT, designed for fan interaction, did not achieve its intended success – with Kolosey humorously noting that ‘fans don’t want to interact with an LLM on a concourse when they’re trying to watch a basketball game’ – it provided crucial learning experiences that redirected the team’s focus inward.
The demo day unveiled four custom GPT builds, each designed to deliver substantial workflow improvements across various facets of the organization:
1. Enhanced Onboarding Processes: A new tool has been developed to create comprehensive onboarding experiences for new hires. This application connects new employees with key colleagues they will frequently interact with, aiming to significantly improve their integration into the Spurs workforce.
2. Strategic Partnership Identification: The team introduced a partnership finder that leverages AI to compare and contrast the Spurs’ cultural values and business requirements with those of potential sponsors. This tool is designed to build upon initial pitch decks, facilitating more aligned and effective collaborations.
3. Fan Night Theme Evaluation: An evaluator for potential fan night themes was presented, capable of gauging how different themes might appeal to various fan segments. This allows for data-driven decisions in planning engaging events for the fanbase.
4. CrowdIQ Analytics Deciphering: A tool to interpret data from CrowdIQ analytics, the Spurs’ vendor for fan attention monitoring using AI cameras, was demonstrated. This application helps determine the effectiveness of in-venue activations by assessing whether they successfully captivated the audience.
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OpenAI played a pivotal role in this initiative, providing a structured educational program to the Spurs last fall. The curriculum progressed from foundational topics like ‘What is AI?’ and other introductory subjects to advanced prompt engineering and the creation of custom GPTs. The Spurs acquired 150 licenses for ChatGPT from OpenAI, and Kolosey reported an impressive active user rate of over 80% among the program participants, indicating strong internal adoption and engagement with the new AI tools.
