AI applied to sports

Column

Innovation

March 20, 2026

AI applied to sports

How technology is redefining human physical limits

The convergence between cutting-edge software development and elite athletics has ushered in an era where victory is not decided solely on the field, but in GPU clusters and real-time data pipelines. AI applied to sports is no longer an experimental tool but has become the backbone of NBA teams, Formula 1 racing teams, and Olympic laboratories. For technology professionals, this scenario represents one of the greatest engineering challenges: processing massive streams of unstructured data (video, IoT sensors, telemetry) and transforming them into actionable insights in milliseconds.

In this article, we will explore how machine learning architectures, computer vision systems, and cloud infrastructures are redefining human physical limits and transforming sports into a field of live data. We will analyze real-world cases, such as the use of cloud computing services in the NBA — the United States basketball league — to measure the probability of baskets and the strategic partnership between Mercedes and Microsoft in F1.

The Physics of motion

One of the most fascinating fields of AI applied to sports is predictive biomechanics. Researchers at the MIT Sports Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are using advanced algorithms to answer questions that challenge traditional physics, such as the possibility of figure skaters performing a quadruple jump(five rotations in the air).

Figure skating is, by nature, a sport of aesthetic and physical data. According to recent studies from MIT, AI helps map the difference between novices and experts through the analysis of torque, angular velocity, and moment of inertia data. The big technical question here is the use of deep learning models for biomechanics, which can identify patterns imperceptible to the human eye. For a computer vision developer, the challenge is pose estimation at high rotation speeds, where motion blur can corrupt the data.

Using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and keypoint detection models, researchers can reconstruct the athlete’s skeleton in 3D. This allows for the exact calculation of how much energy is needed to complete the fifth rotation. MIT’s vision is that, soon, we will see these jumps being executed with the aid of training based on digital simulations, where the athlete “learns” the optimal trajectory generated by AI even before attempting it on the ice.

NBA and machine learning

A National Basketball Association (NBA) has elevated AI applied to sports to a new level of mass consumption and tactical analysis. Through a robust partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the league now uses ML models to measure the probability of a shot becoming a basket in real time.

Unlike older systems that tracked only the player’s center of mass, the new platform uses high-fidelity cameras that map 29 data points on each athlete’s body. This creates a constantly moving “digital twin“. For data engineers, the infrastructure challenge is enormous: collecting these points from 10 players, plus the ball, at 60 frames per second, and processing everything via AWS SageMaker — a platform that facilitates the creation, training, and use of AI models — to generate an instantaneous statistical probability.

The platform analyzes the court position, the distance to the nearest defender (using spatial geometry algorithms), and the athlete’s performance history. This is not just for entertainment in broadcasts — as highlighted by Canaltech — but also provides coaches with unprecedented prescriptive analysis, suggesting which shots are statistically most efficient in certain game situations.

F1 and Data

If there is a sport that is purely a competition of software, it is Formula 1. The decades-long partnership between Mercedes and Microsoft was recently expanded to integrate AI and cloud technologies into all facets of the team.

A modern F1 car generates gigabytes of data per lap, coming from hundreds of temperature, pressure, and aerodynamic flow sensors. AI applied to motorsport uses edge computing to process critical data locally, and the Azure cloud for complex strategy simulations. The goal is to create big data models in Formula 1 that predict tire wear and fuel consumption with 99% accuracy.

Before each GP, billions of simulations are run. The AI analyzes variables such as track temperature, probability of rain, and historical rival behavior. As reported by Máquina do Esporte, this collaboration allows Mercedes to use generative AI and predictive models to optimize the aerodynamic design and pit stop windows, transforming race strategy into a computational chess game.

AI applied to sports has transcended the mere recording of statistics to become the engine of high-performance innovation. For software and data professionals, sports offers one of the most dynamic laboratories on the planet, demanding solutions that are robust, scalable, and, above all, fast. From analyzing a quintuple jump at MIT to managing the data of an F1 team like Mercedes, technology is removing the guesswork from training and strategy.

The future holds even greater integration with generative AI, dynamically creating personalized training plans and hyper-segmented fan experiences through recommendation systems for fan engagement. If you are a developer or data scientist, now is the time to apply your skills in a field where code truly impacts the physical and emotional reality of millions. Sport is no longer just about who trains the most, but about who processes best.

To access the references of this text click here

Who wrote this column

Guilherme Lima

É desenvolvedor de software e professor, bacharel em Sistemas de Informação com pós-graduação em Data Science. Atua na criação de sistemas modernos e na integração de Inteligência Artificial para otimização de fluxos e experiência do usuário. É professor de tecnologia no MBA da USP/ESALQ, capacitando pessoas em IA, desenvolvimento Fullstack e automação, com o propósito de utilizar a tecnologia para resolver problemas reais.

You may also like

October 02, 2026

Determinants of supermarket location in São Paulo

A study investigated the determining factors for supermarket location in the state of São Paulo, with the objective of investigating the factors that explain the presence and expansion of these establishments, considering socioeconomic, demographic, and market dimensions. Data from the 2010 and 2022 Demographic Censuses of IBGE and information from the National Registry of Legal Entities of the Federal Revenue of Brazil were used to build a georeferenced database. A Random Forest classification model was applied, adjusted by grid search with cross-validation, prioritizing the recall-macro metric due to the imbalance of the dependent variable, which represented the presence or absence of supermarkets within a 50-meter buffer. The results indicated that supermarket location is strongly associated with demographic, income, and population characteristics in the surrounding area. The analysis of variable importance showed that sociodemographic factors, such as elderly literacy, household income, and the presence of other food establishments, exerted significant influence, especially in the immediate vicinity. The findings reinforced the hypothesis that the spatial distribution of supermarkets is not random, being conditioned by socioeconomic characteristics and the commercial structure of the territory, offering subsidies for business decisions and urban planning.

Keywords: Spatial Analysis; Machine learning; Expansion; Commercial location; Supermarkets.

Neuroscience And Learning In Education

October 02, 2026

Anti-Racist Education: Inclusive Educational Practices and Social Development

Antiracist education, understood as a structuring axis of inclusive education and social development, was investigated in the Brazilian context. The study aimed to identify and analyze, based on legal documents and teachers’ perceptions, educational practices capable of promoting antiracism in school and society, and how the implementation of Laws nº 10.639/03 and nº 11.645/08 contributed to social justice. A qualitative and documentary approach was adopted, with analysis of educational legislation, curricular guidelines, institutional reports, and academic literature. Complementarily, a semi-structured questionnaire was applied to 295 Basic Education teachers. The data were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, through thematic content analysis, and validated with bibliographic studies. The results revealed a paradox: despite a robust legal framework, the implementation of antiracist policies proved fragile and sporadic, with a lack of teacher training, adequate teaching materials, and monitoring. Significant educational inequalities between white and black students were found to persist, and most teachers acknowledged the occurrence of racism in schools, but without clear institutional protocols. Neuroscientific analysis showed that racism negatively impacts students’ cognitive and emotional development. It was concluded that antiracist education is central to quality education, requiring political commitment, public investment, and intersectoral articulation. The integration of Neuroscience in teacher training and the production of qualified materials are crucial to strengthen the school’s role in building a more just and inclusive society.

Keywords: Social Development; Antiracist Education; Social Justice; Law 10.639/03; Inclusive Educational Practices.

Neuroscience And Learning In Education

October 02, 2026

Paths of Inclusion: Perceptions of Parents and Teachers on the Schooling of Students with Dual Exceptionality in the Brazilian Context

Dual Exceptionality, characterized by the coexistence of High Abilities/Giftedness and neurodevelopmental disorders, represents a complex phenomenon that challenges traditional identification and schooling models. The study aimed to understand the perceptions of parents or guardians, teachers, and other education professionals regarding the schooling of students with Dual Exceptionality in the Brazilian context, investigating challenges, pedagogical strategies, and possibilities for inclusion based on equity. The research adopted a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach, and collected data through an online, voluntary, and anonymous questionnaire answered by 25 participants. Discursive data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The results indicated that knowledge about the topic is often built from personal and professional experiences, revealing gaps in systematic training. Difficulties were identified in identifying these students, in teacher training, and in implementing individualized educational plans, pedagogical flexibility, and curriculum enrichment. Socio-emotional repercussions, such as frustration and low self-esteem, were reported. However, some schools demonstrated inclusive practices based on equity, articulating specific needs and potentialities. Although the results do not allow for generalizations, they highlighted the need to strengthen professional training and the articulation between school, family, and specialized services. It was concluded that the inclusion of students with Dual Exceptionality requires practices that simultaneously recognize their difficulties and potentialities, ensuring equitable conditions for participation, learning, and development.

Keywords: Human development; Teacher training; School inclusion; Neurodivergence; Pedagogical practices.

October 02, 2026

Data Transformation into Strategy: Applied Research for Ecotourism Operation Optimization

The growing demand in ecotourism in Minas Gerais has driven the search for business intelligence to transform customer data into strategic information. The study aimed to structure a data science pipeline to collect, segment, and classify the customer base of an ecotourism operation, in order to optimize marketing actions and anticipate market movements. An exploratory, quali-quantitative research was conducted through a case study. 2,777 transactional records from an ecotourism company, referring to January 2024 to December 2025, were used. The methodological process involved automated data collection (Google Sheets API), processing and enrichment (ETL), validation, and creation of RFM (Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value) attributes. Dimensionality reduction via PCA and K-Means clustering was applied, with the number of clusters defined by the Elbow method and Silhouette Score. The results were validated with DBSCAN and K-Medoids. The results revealed the identification of three behavioral customer segments: “Loyal”, “Low Value”, and “Potential”. The “Loyal” segment represented the highest accumulated economic value, while the “Potential” segment stood out for its high average ticket and potential for conversion into recurrence. The integration of data analysis techniques proved to be a robust and replicable method for generating intelligence in ecotourism. It was concluded that the structured data science pipeline enabled the behavioral segmentation of the customer base, the statistical validation of the groups, and the creation of a predictive system for new buyers, providing subsidies for data-driven strategic decisions and future analyses.

Keywords: Clustering; Business intelligence; Machine Learning; Customer segmentation; Decision making.

October 02, 2026

Classification of defaulting customers using supervised machine learning techniques

The risk of default in credit operations demanded analytical approaches to anticipate losses. This study comparatively evaluated the performance of supervised machine learning models in classifying defaulting customers in credit card operations. The public dataset “Default of Credit Card Clients” from the University of California Irvine was used, with 30,000 observations and class imbalance. The algorithms Logistic Regression, Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting were employed. The imbalance was addressed by assigning weights to the classes, and model optimization occurred with the RandomizedSearchCV method, prioritizing sensitivity. Cross-validation results indicated that the Extreme Gradient Boosting model showed a higher capacity for identifying the defaulting class and better discriminatory performance, followed by Random Forest and Logistic Regression, with a sensitivity of 0.8250 and an AUC-ROC of 0.7844 for XGBoost. Interpretability analysis, conducted by the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) technique, highlighted the predominance of variables associated with payment behavior, especially the history of delays. It was concluded that tree-based models, particularly boosting techniques, proved to be more suitable for capturing complex patterns in the data, configuring themselves as consistent alternatives for credit risk management.

Keywords: Machine Learning; Credit Card; Classification; Extreme Gradient Boosting; Credit Risk.

October 02, 2026

Sentiment Analysis on Brazilian Banks on Twitter/X: Comparison between Traditional and Digital Institutions

A study analyzed public perception of Brazilian financial institutions on the Twitter/X platform, highlighting the importance of sentiment monitoring on social networks for understanding reputation and customer experience in the banking sector. The objective was to compare user perception of the image and reputation of traditional and digital banks, based on the sentiment patterns identified in the analyzed manifestations, seeking to identify structural differences between these groups. The methodology was based on the analysis of 1,096 tweets collected between November 2022 and June 2023. Two complementary sentiment analysis approaches were used, the sum and the average of labels, to capture the majority sentiment and nuances of perception. Additionally, the Market Profile Model, with indicators of emotional reputation, reputational risk, neutrality, and polarization, and the Banking Clustering Model, which allowed grouping institutions according to perception patterns, were developed. The results indicated a predominance of neutral and negative sentiments, a higher volume of interactions in digital banks, and structural differences in the emotional intensity of perceptions, with greater stability in digital banks and greater polarization in traditional ones. It was concluded that the combination of analytical and statistical techniques contributed to an in-depth understanding of institutional image in the digital environment, demonstrating the importance of data-driven reputation management strategies.

Keywords: Digital banks; Traditional banks; Data modeling; Opinion mining; Social Networks.

October 02, 2026

Optimization of annual budget planning through project management methodologies

The Annual Budget Planning (POA) is a crucial process for translating organizational strategy into operational and financial goals, but it frequently faces deadline pressures, interdepartmental dependencies, and the repetition of habitual expenses. The study aimed to analyze how the combined application of project management practices and Zero-Based Budgeting (OBZ) can optimize the POA. To this end, a case study was developed in the Brazilian operation of a publicly traded company in the beverage sector, using documentary research of its 2023 results report and an anonymous questionnaire applied to 47 respondents. Documentary analysis indicated growth in net revenue, expansion of gross profit and adjusted EBITDA, and contained advancement of selling, general, and administrative expenses, suggesting cost discipline and operational leverage. The complementary survey revealed a high perception of cascading effect on the schedule, strong support for defining cost package owners, and a preference for technical justification of expenses, in addition to demand for controlled flexibility after the baseline definition. It was concluded that structuring the POA as a project, associated with the rigor of OBZ, increased the process predictability, reinforced accountability for expenses, and broadened the coherence between budgetary execution and economic-financial performance.

Keywords: Cost Control; Operational Efficiency; Zero-Based Budgeting; PMBOK; Beverage Sector.