Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has openly discussed his team's use of artificial intelligence in their pursuit of a first Premier League title in 22 years, while cautioning that the technology requires careful handling.
The AI Revolution in Football
The Spanish coach, known for embracing innovative methods throughout his tenure at the Emirates, confirmed that AI has become part of Arsenal's toolkit for analysing performances and pinpointing areas for development. His comments came following revelations from former Arsenal Women's manager Laura Harvey, who now coaches Seattle Reign in America's National Women's Soccer League.
Harvey admitted using ChatGPT for tactical recommendations, including deploying a back-five formation in two matches after the AI service suggested it against specific opponents. When questioned about these developments, Arteta acknowledged AI's growing role at the Premier League leaders.
Arteta's Cautious Approach to Technology
"It's a tool that is super powerful if you use it in the right way and you ask the right questions," Arteta stated ahead of Arsenal's match against Sunderland. "It's in use already for many things and many processes that can help not just a team but an organisation as well."
The Arsenal boss revealed the club has developed specific AI applications to help the team understand themselves better and evaluate their performances. He expressed particular interest in AI's potential for monitoring player fitness and preventing injuries, though he emphasised crucial limitations.
"If it's reliable, it can help us for injuries, for sure but always without losing the sensitivity and feeling and following your gut," Arteta explained. "We are dealing with human beings and that's an aspect that, so far, it is not able to replace."
Navigating the Data Minefield
Arteta stressed the importance of properly interpreting AI-generated data, warning that coaches could become "very confused, very annoyed" if they don't understand the methodology behind the statistics.
"With the stats, it is about how do I interpret those stats and how reliable they are?" he questioned. "You can get very confused, very annoyed, immediately. But this data means nothing, because you have to analyse. What is the methodology of that? And if you don't understand that, and you just look at the data, then you can have a big problem."
Despite these cautions, Arteta confirmed Arsenal will continue exploring AI applications across other areas of the club. His revelation comes as Arsenal maintained their six-point lead at the Premier League summit, with closest rivals Liverpool and Manchester City scheduled to meet that weekend.
