For better or worse, we are living in the age of artificial intelligence. Generative AI such as ChatGPT has boomed as many industries have employed it for reasons beyond perhaps what is necessary.

To the chagrin of many NASCAR fans, it sounds like their much maligned leadership has taken an interest in it. In an interview with the Sports Business Journal, NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell expressed the possibility of using generative AI to solve topics like “that now goes into a race, how that applies to our formats of the future,” the latter including the controversial playoffs. The sanctioning body had even formed an “internal, cross-function group” in February to study how to channel AI into competition changes. Still, NASCAR does plan to continue using humans to finalize the changes.

Nonetheless, fans were not too pleased with the news. The playoffs have been contentious since their introduction as the Chase in 2004, and criticisms only intensified after this year’s title was won by Joey Logano; while Logano was a two-time champion beforehand, 2024 was his worst season statistically and he had even been eliminated earlier but got back in after Alex Bowman’s disqualification. In the eyes of playoff critics, relying on AI was only another sign that NASCAR’s brass had little idea what they were doing.

It also raises the concern of a Pandora’s box opening, or perhaps a slippery slope. If the top stock car series is using AI for something that directly impacts the racing, where is the line? What happens when other disciplines start doing it?

Fortunately for rally raid fans, the FIA currently has no intention of using it on such a scale. While the federation has dabbled with it before, it didn’t exactly go to plan.

In late 2023, the FIA was asked by the ASO to consider updating the names of the five rally raid classes ahead of the 2024 season. Traditionally, each category had been named “T” (“tout terrain”, French for “off-road”) and then a corresponding number: T1 was for prototype cars, T2 referred to production cars, T3 and T4 were respectively prototype and stock UTVs, and T5 described trucks. While the formula seemed to work fine and many still use it to this day, officials felt they might be too vague for new fans to understand.

“Nobody was understanding it perfectly except those who have been in the sport for a long time,” FIA cross-country category manager Jérôme Roussel told Relevo in November 2023. “We talked to the ASO and said, ‘Okay, we need to do something to make things a bit more understandable.’”

Thus, Roussel and his team got to work, though it wasn’t exactly an easy process. The group consulted various committees and marketing companies on what to dub each category, while also looking up what other off-road series like SCORE used for their class names. Eventually, they decided to fire up ChatGPT to see if they could get something. This did not go well either.

“Its answers depend a lot on how you frame the prompts,” he explained. “It kept coming up with boxing categories, which are based on weight: Super Lightweight, Heavyweight, Featherweight, and that doesn’t work for motorsports. So, we told ourself, ‘Let’s trust our brains, the human side.’”

ChatGPT certainly has improved in recent months, especially with the introduction of GPT-4o in May. But in late 2023, free users were limited to GPT-3.5 while GPT-4 had not been fully rolled out to all.

With GPT-3.5, I was given the following:

• SuperRace: The top class consisting of purpose-built race vehicles
• ProStock: Production vehicles
• RacerX: Purpose-built racing side-by-side vehicles
• StockXtreme: Production side-by-side vehicles
• TurboHaul: Truck

Trying again in GPT-4o with the same prompt, I received this:

• T1 (Ultimate) → Rally Xtreme
  Reflects the high-performance, cutting-edge prototype race cars purpose-built for extreme conditions.
• T2 (Production) → Rally Enduro
  Captures the endurance and durability of production-based vehicles that are modified for cross-country rallies.
• T3 (Challenger, Light Prototype) → Rally Swift
  Highlights the agility and lightness of the purpose-built lightweight prototypes that prioritize speed and maneuverability.
• T4 (SSV) → Rally Terrain
  Represents production side-by-side vehicles built to tackle diverse and rugged terrains while maintaining production integrity.
• T5 (Truck) → Rally Titan
  Emphasizes the power and toughness of large cross-country trucks that dominate the harshest environments.

So… yeah. While the final result of Ultimate, Stock, Challenger, SSV, and Truck might not be sexy, it could have been much worse.

Featured image credit: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool