Few voices are more synonymous with the sporting universe than Al Michaels'. The owner and creator of some of the most iconic calls in the history of sports broadcasting, Michaels also is well-known for his role announcing at the Olympics.
From the 1980s to the 2010s, Michaels had a hand in Olympics coverage, even calling arguably the most iconic moment in United States Olympic history— the 1980 semifinal hockey game vs. the Soviet Union. And, for the first time since 2016 in Rio, his voice will return to NBC's ranks. But not in the way you might think.
Michaels himself will not be helping out with the Olympics; rather an artificial version of his voice will be featured as part of NBC's coverage this year. So, while you might hear his famous cadence scrolling through Olympic highlights this year, be aware he is nowhere near the broadcast booth.
Here's everything you need to know about Michaels' Olympic clone and how it will work for these coming Games.
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Al Michaels artificial voice, explained
NBC will use an artificial version of Michaels' voice to narrate its daily recaps of the Summer Olympics on Peacock. A segment called "Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock" will feature the famed sports broadcaster's voice, providing streaming subscribers with a customized playlist of highlights from the competitions. Nearly seven million personalized recaps could be streamed across the country during the Games, Peacock estimates, pulling clips from NBC's 5,000 hours of live coverage.
The artificial intelligence was trained using Michaels' past appearances on NBC in order to match the intonations and quirks of his well-known voice. According to Vanity Fair, initially Michaels was skeptical of the idea to use his cadence on the streaming service's new feature. However, once he heard the AI for himself, he changed his mind.
“Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing, and it was a little bit frightening," Michaels said. “It was not only close, it was almost two-percent off perfect."
Al Michaels Olympic broadcast career
Michaels became the primary play-by-play announcer for men's ice hockey coverage at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. He returned to call the same event during the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. It was during those Games that he made his most famous call, and arguably one of the most famous calls in the history of sports, at the end of the "Miracle on Ice" when Team USA upset the Soviet Union 4-3.
He also called men's ice hockey in the next two Winter Olympics—Sarajevo in 1984 and Calgary in 1988. Michaels made his Summer Games debut in 1984, as well, calling athletics and the road cycling competition in Los Angeles.
After a 26-year hiatus from the Games, he returned for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver as NBC's daytime and Closing Ceremony host. Michaels assumed the same role at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London before serving on NBCSN as a weekday host and NBC as a weekend daytime host for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. He returned to host daytime coverage for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.
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Al Michaels age
Michaels is currently 79 and will turn 80 this November. Since 2022 he has served NBC Sports in an Emeritus role in addition to calling Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video.
