Intel announced last week that its AI technology would be an important part of the Olympic experience. Intel’s AI efforts would get a major boost if it pulls off this feat. Intel will be tarnished if this fails.
I was involved in two previous Olympics tech initiatives, one with IBM for the Winter Olympics and another with Lenovo for the Summer Olympics.
The Lenovo effort, while working reasonably well for Lenovo was the IBM effort. This effort had nothing to do at all with IBM’s services or technology and everything to due with the complexity of the Olympics in the U.S. held that year. France is unique in that it has a number of venues, as well as domestic and foreign attempts to disrupt the event and a common committee to get things done.
France’s legal system is also very different from that of the U.S. and much of Europe, making a project as complex as this one. If Intel is successful, AI will have a significant impact on the experience of athletes and spectators. This could be the best Olympics ever. It won’t be easy, however, because of the newness and complexity of generative AI.
Let’s talk Intel, AI, the Olympics. Next, I will close my Product of the week, a new Intel Laptop from HP which pushes the boundaries of sustainability, portability and security.
The Challenges of Managing the Olympics with Technology
The Olympics is an incredibly unique event. It is spread across the globe with many different, and often unaligned, organizations that have varying links to their own government.
These groups speak different languages and have different social and cultural protocols. In the time between the events, the people, the relationships between countries, the threats, and even the venue can change. It’s almost like starting a huge company from the ground up in a short period of time.
It is only when an event goes live that you will be able to test whether or not it works at scale. IBM learned the hard way that it is not the right time to find out about catastrophic implementation problems.
Since then, technology has improved. Two large wars, in contrast to those events that preceded them, are currently underway. These can create significant operational problems, from the inability to anticipate electronic and physical threats to political escalation meant to embarrass host or attending governments, as well as the difficulty of managing the venues for these games.
Intel won’t likely be held responsible for a bad event, even though it’s likely that they will. Intel will have a huge opportunity to showcase its AI capabilities if it is successful. Intel’s AI capabilities would appear to be far beyond what most people think. This success will have a positive impact on Intel’s brand and future.
Both are significant, and neither is trivial.
AI Could Have a Unique Impact at the Olympics
Olympic gatherings will include people coming from all over the world, arriving in a new location for most. Both athletes and spectators must be able to easily move between venues.
There will be many people who need to know about any major issues, such as a change in venue, weather conditions, terrorist threats, operational problems, protests (France is notorious for these) or other important issues.
The resources must also be redeployed quickly to address the problem while minimizing risk to athletes and attendees. AI is the perfect solution for this. It can be trained and simulate based on previous practices that are included in training sets to be prepared to deal with any problem.
This is crucial, given that staff members often move from one country or region to another. You may find yourself without experienced decision-makers when you most need them. AI, when done right, has the ability to solve a problem unexpectedly and in real-time.
AI can also provide athletes and attendees with information about events that they may be interested in, but otherwise would not have known, as well as suggestions for where they can get help. It will also alert them to injuries and activities that require Olympic or Police response.
AI can suggest useful applications and experiences for athletes and attendees, including locations that offer affordable dining and recreation, as well as souvenirs, to help people remember the event. This will help to increase the revenue and reduce the financial losses for the host country.
AI can be used to restore the profitability of this event if it is properly implemented. However, I doubt this will happen this year as this is the Olympics’ first use of AI.
Wrapping up
AI could be a game changer for those attending and competing at the Olympics. It is unclear whether this will have a positive or a negative impact, and to what extent a technology provider like Intel would be affected or benefited.
Intel can be happy that it is not the first time they have used new technology at the Olympics. They’ve also become more adept over time in utilizing them. AI, while rapidly maturing, is still a new technology for events such as these. The Olympics are a complex event that is difficult to manage. This is especially true when there are multiple wars, which create tensions among the athletes and spectators.
Intel will be able to earn a lot of credit if it pulls off this feat. It will also become an AI company that is far more powerful. This is a high risk event in a conflict situation, so there is an unusually high chance that this will not go well. The reward may be worth the risk but the risk is not trivial.
We hope Intel and France will make the Summer Olympics of this year a huge success.
HP EliteBook 1440 G11 Notebook PC Wolf Pro Security edition
We live in a hostile environment. HP’s latest laptop focuses more on security than physical threats. While Panasonic’s Toughbook line focuses on physical threats, HP’s newest notebook focuses primarily on security. HP EliteBook 1040 14″ G11 Wolf Pro Security Edition The safest notebook you can own.
A powerful NPU is one of the main advantages of the new line Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite Notebooks. They also have a great battery life. One of the disadvantages, however, is that security software has not yet fully embraced that platform and does not support vPro. Intel’s VPro is a requirement for many enterprise-class products.
This EliteBook is designed for businesses and government agencies with more stringent security standards. But after watching the movie “The Beekeeper,” I was reminded just how exposed individuals are to security threats, particularly those that have senior corporate positions or extensive systems access — like CIOs, systems administrators, and support specialists.
These classes of work are at greater risk because someone may use their permissions in order to gain access and steal sensitive data. As security threats become increasingly AI-driven it is important to have a notebook that can protect you from these threats.
HP EliteBook 1440 Wolf Pro Security edition (Images Credits: HP)
The PC also showcases sustainability by using ocean-born materials, such as fishing nets and cooking oil, for some plastics and recycled metals in the case and frame. HP is more aggressive with its use of recycled materials.
It costs about $2,100 but is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU with 14 cores and 20 threads. The notebook comes with 16GB memory, 512GB storage, and Intel’s new ARC graphics, which is much more powerful than the old integrated graphics.
This notebook has an NPU as well, but runs at only 11 TOPS. It is therefore not eligible for Microsoft Copilot+. HP’s AI software should run within HP’s 11 TOPS limitations, since most AI deployments take place in the cloud.
The EliteBook 1040 is available in a silvery-white finish, which I’ve never seen before. However, it’s growing on me as the color doesn’t show fingerprints or dirt as much as darker colors. I also expect that it will perform much cooler than darker products in this heat. It will also detect when you are sitting on it, and reduce the heat to prevent your privates from being ironed. Nobody wants to iron their privates.
This product is for someone who has a high security requirement, needs Intel vPro and can live without the higher performance NPU. The HP EliteBook 14″ G11 Laptop Wolf Pro Security edition could be the perfect solution.
