For a technology that could revolutionize work, upend economies and maybe even threaten our survival, artificial intelligence often surprises me with the ways it’s actually being used.
Consider curling. For the uninitiated, it’s a sport that involves sliding a granite stone across some ice. Teammates glide alongside, frantically sweeping the ice to help steer the stone toward a target. It’s a long way from the adrenalized, big-money contests of the National Football League or the Ultimate Fighting Championship, yet even “the sheet” (as aficionados call the playing surface) isn’t safe from meddling machines.
University of Alberta academics spent years developing a simulator and machine-learning algorithm to work out the optimal strategy a team should employ for “the hammer,” the game’s crucial final shot. Its creators found that following the model’s advice would lead to more wins than leaving the decisions to Olympic-level competitors. And that was in 2016.
“Use of software-generated analytics is quite prevalent today among high-performance curling teams and national programs,” says Al Cameron, a spokesman for Curling Canada, the national sporting body.
Outside the curling rink, machine learning is changing the nature of the games we play, the sports we watch, the films and books we consume, the vacations we take and the relationships we build. With all the discussion about AI affecting our work, a new era of leisure has tiptoed into existence, without much debate about whether we want or need it — and what we might lose as a result.
Same as any test of skill, using technology to optimize the probability pie is a valid strategy to win. It also empirically lowers the actual skill involved. What this says about the sport or game is what one reads from it. Personally and subjectively, call me a Luddite, but I look down on anyone who turns a game into something a text prediction machine could digest.
Boatster_McBoat on
I read that spokesman’s name as A.I. Cameron and I can’t unsee it
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*Kit Chellel for Bloomberg News*
For a technology that could revolutionize work, upend economies and maybe even threaten our survival, artificial intelligence often surprises me with the ways it’s actually being used.
Consider curling. For the uninitiated, it’s a sport that involves sliding a granite stone across some ice. Teammates glide alongside, frantically sweeping the ice to help steer the stone toward a target. It’s a long way from the adrenalized, big-money contests of the National Football League or the Ultimate Fighting Championship, yet even “the sheet” (as aficionados call the playing surface) isn’t safe from meddling machines.
University of Alberta academics spent years developing a simulator and machine-learning algorithm to work out the optimal strategy a team should employ for “the hammer,” the game’s crucial final shot. Its creators found that following the model’s advice would lead to more wins than leaving the decisions to Olympic-level competitors. And that was in 2016.
“Use of software-generated analytics is quite prevalent today among high-performance curling teams and national programs,” says Al Cameron, a spokesman for Curling Canada, the national sporting body.
Outside the curling rink, machine learning is changing the nature of the games we play, the sports we watch, the films and books we consume, the vacations we take and the relationships we build. With all the discussion about AI affecting our work, a new era of leisure has tiptoed into existence, without much debate about whether we want or need it — and what we might lose as a result.
[Read the full essay here.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-12-26/how-ai-is-changing-the-games-we-play-from-poker-to-curling?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2NjgyNTA2NywiZXhwIjoxNzY3NDI5ODY3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUN1ZEMDhLR0lGUUUwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.eRcCoVIMSDXyI4CP_5GBXYBydyP9Az2reF2grJZKwhA)
Same as any test of skill, using technology to optimize the probability pie is a valid strategy to win. It also empirically lowers the actual skill involved. What this says about the sport or game is what one reads from it. Personally and subjectively, call me a Luddite, but I look down on anyone who turns a game into something a text prediction machine could digest.
I read that spokesman’s name as A.I. Cameron and I can’t unsee it