NASCAR might be trying a little too hard to catch up with the trends, as they have made what seems to be a rather controversial decision: hiring a director of artificial intelligence. Be it a bubble or a ‘slop,’ as many call it, AI is being considered the future of technology, but just how useful will that be remains conflicted. But NASCAR seems to be making the most use of it, with their most recent big-scale promotion.
NASCAR goes huge on AI
Richard Bowman, hired as NASCAR’s AI Operations Specialist just back in January, only took around a quarter of the year to earn his first promotion with the sport, as he was made the first director of Artificial Intelligence of the sport. Now, while it may sound a little confusing, simply broken down, his earlier job was to use AI tools effectively to improve the overall efficiency of the sport’s operations.
As the director now, he will oversee all operations related to AI. However, this is understood not to impact the racing or racing structure in any way, as the strategies being developed (which are powered by AI) are more directed towards the sport’s management and corporate sector. So, the fans definitely don’t have to worry about the drivers being replaced by self-driving cars.
AI seems to be the next big step in the industry. Of course, while an organization as big as NASCAR cannot solely rely on decisions made by an AI model, it can fine-tune its decisions or even develop new strategies to make its work more efficient. This would save time, promote better professionalism across the organization, and help improve overall output.
While this does sound like an amazing move for the organization, it’s surely controversial. From what it sounds like, this could lead to some layoffs from the organization. This is something that AI is regularly criticized for. To think about it, developing strategies to improve overall efficiency is something that specialists are often hired for, and to think that an AI model would do the same job can be unfortunate from their perspective.
Moreover, there is also the vast environmental damage that AI data centers cause every day, which has become a point of sharp criticism for many.
With all of that out in the open, it was apparent that fans weren’t exactly impressed with NASCAR’s move.
Fans unamused
“Sounds like a giant waste of resources. Get rid of that shit and hire Mark Martin as a consultant,” a fan said, carrying the group emotion on the news.
At the end of the day, it would only make sense to hire someone who has been around in the sport to make these crucial management calls. Might not be a former driver, but someone with a defining experience would be strong. But the sport’s decision to choose the ‘AI-way’ instead did not make sense to many:
“That’s another dumb decision by NASCAR lol,” read another comment.
At the same time, some also spotted the positives of the move… not letting go of the sarcastic tone, however, as a fan wrote: “NASCAR has been low on intelligence for sometime now so anything should help.”
It’s rather odd to comment on this, but it is safe to say that the fans are not the most impressed with this huge move. Especially because some believe that artificial intelligence is actually inefficient, which would make the entire basis of this hiring pointless:
“Probably the easiest job ever. Ai does nothing.”
Although the sport does seem to be taking it in the right direction in terms of AI’s overall usage and the training models they would use, some are just not happy. “Well, I guess it’s time to bully NASCAR again,” wrote a fan.
Meanwhile, others are just trying to find the humor in it: “At least now they will have some intelligence.”
But it is a tough call. Bowman was only hired in January of this year, and in less than four months, he is already the director of his department. Now, whether this is a good sign or a bad one, only time will tell, but from what it seems right now, NASCAR is attempting really hard to make the most of the resources they have.
