Artificial intelligence dominates the human world as it makes their lives efficient and organized, proving its outstanding ability through demonstrations of methodically practical procedures. To maximize AI’s benefit, FIFA proposes to eliminate corrupt referees by replacing them with AI. However, will this implementation increase the overall fairness of sports, or create more chaos with AI exploited by the same corrupt people?
It is an undeniable fact that corruption exists everywhere, whether in politics or in the world of sports. Therefore, FIFA aims to reduce sports corruption through the implementation of AI. However, there is an undertone of concern for the same chaotic people who will control the AI referee system and take advantage of AI. Debbie Hewitt, president of FIFA, expressed that the chaos will remain regardless of the new enforcement, as it does not guarantee fairness under the control of humans who have a biased nature. Instead, she believes that FIFA should target the root issue of corrupt referees by conducting a strict background check and transaction for all referees. On the other hand, Lambert Matlock, president of OFC, argues that AI is worth the risk given the existence of malpractice among the board members.
Corruption is within the system under human control; it is an undeniable fact. However, this would not have happened in the first place if the selection of referees had been carefully considered in the first place. Despite the committee’s indecisiveness in their decision to replace human referees with AI, the majority of the board members agree that the root issue of referee selection should be more closely examined through background and transaction checks for the prosperity of sports.