A.I. tech sets up a match between Serena Williams vs. herself in NIKE film

The U.S. Open tennis tournament in August was the swan song for superstar player Serena Williams. The retiring champion’s final match not-so-coincidentally coincided with the release of a Nike film celebrating her 130,000-game career. As a result of that timing—and of the film’s use of A.I. technology—Nike scored plenty of earned media.The film digitally rendered Williams as she appeared at the start of her professional years and also as she appeared at her most recent match (the 2017 Australian Open). The result was two Williamses shown playing against each other in a hypothetical match-up. 

Cool enough, but cooler still was the use of machine learning to create a CGI young and older Williams based on her playing style in the mid-1990s (when she first became a professional player) and in 2017. The computer did this by analyzing game footage with an eye toward the way she chose shots, swung the racket, moved about on the court, and reacted to return serves and opponent strokes. The film was produced to help Nike commemorate its 50th anniversary.