Tennis fans, especially those hooked on the Open tournaments, are able to enjoy a season of top-flight games almost a year-long, beginning with the Australian Open in January and ending with the US Open in September. Many more events – whether individual tournaments or internationals – are sandwiched in between.
Whether it’s Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner or the legendary Novak Djokovic in the men’s tournaments, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek or Coco Gauff in the women’s, the level of individual talent rises constantly. These improvements are attributable to the amazing natural talents of the athletes, combined with the best coaching the sport can offer. The right coach can make all the difference between being a player and being a champion.
While elite-level coaches are still very much the preserve of elite-level players, the ability to improve natural talent through tennis coaching is open to players at all levels. Looking to level this playing field further is Norwegian B2B sports technology company SportAI.
Founded in late 2023 by tech and software industry experts Lauren Pedersen (CEO), Felipe Longé (chief technology officer) and Trond Kittelsen (head of commercial), the company’s basic mission is to enhance tennis technique through tactical analysis, coaching and commentary. With expertise in computer vision and machine learning, SportAI looks to use artificial intelligence (AI) to offer instant data-driven insights to training facilities, teams, broadcasters, retailers and equipment brands. Still in its early days, the company has raised $3.6m in funding to date.
For the love of tennis
The company’s management combines technology expertise and a passion for tennis. In addition to extensive experience growing global tech firms, Pederson competed in NCAA Division 1 college tennis and represented Norway at the 2023 ITF Tennis Masters World Championships. As well as being an entrepreneur and sports technology product expert, Kittelsen was CEO of Sevensix Tennis, the provider of an app designed to analyse tennis technique to help players upgrade their game by comparing their technique to that of a professional player.
Kittelsen describes the team as tennis “nerds”, watching all the games and following all the stats. But on a serious note, he insists the company is on a mission to democratise all the insight for everyone, and to do that, it needed a great tech team comprising machine learning engineers, AI experts, mathematicians, and experts in physics and physiology. Added to these are people with a proven track record in commerce.
Pedersen is adamant that with her company’s solution, insight into how to play tennis effectively can now be delivered cost-effectively and in a way that is comparable to the likes of Strava and Fitbit for runners. She notes that until now, a vast number of participants, without access to complicated technology, could play many games of tennis, yet not have any idea about how they had hit shots or how to improve.
The basic principle of the SportAI platform is that every movement a tennis player makes matters. After taking in video of tennis action – by using a standard mobile device such as an iPhone, sophisticated TV setups, or court-mounted cameras – the software uses machine learning and biomechanical analysis to build detailed 3D visuals of playing style. Once ingested into the SportAI system, data is uploaded to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, analysed and made available in seconds.
The SportAI app uses computer vision to check a player’s limbs and joints, tracking movement and the load on the racquet during shots and the follow-through of the racket after the ball impact
The app uses computer vision to check a player’s limbs and joints, tracking movement and the load on the racket during shots and the follow-through of the racket after the ball impact. It can measure biomechanics, swing curve, power generation and where the players hit the ball. It shows clearly the kinetic chain in making a shot – that is the sequence of shot creation from hip, shoulder and wrist position – generating an analysis from which it’s possible to see what needs to be improved.
For example, ball speed is a function of wrist speed, and the SportAI app can generate a swing curve, comparing it to that of a professional player. The AI within the app can display the velocity and rotation of hips and shoulders. All of this can be used by coaches to improve performance.
The SportAI app can measure wrist and racket speed, and generate a swing curve, comparing it to that of a professional player
The subsequent data generated can be provided to individuals or to sports federations, academies, or equipment providers and manufacturers to see how people play and what can be done to improve technique. The data can also be compared with that of elite players to receive personalised improvement recommendations.
The analysis can also automatically jump to key points if there is something specific to focus on. Stats could include how many forehand shots a player hits in a given time, or they can generate highlights such as the longest rally in a game or action with the highest intensity.
The SportAI software uses machine learning and biomechanical analysis to build detailed 3D visuals of playing style
“If you take a tennis lesson today, it might cost $100 an hour anywhere in the world. And you might have a good coach, [but even if] you had three or four good coaches looking at your serve feedback, there would be no data to back it up. Now, with advances in computer vision and machine learning, you could change that,” says Pedersen.
“So instead of having to have sensors on your body to track movement and biomechanical analysis, now almost every pixel on the video starts to become something you can use to track and gather data from, and then use that [data] to power different experiences and feedback,” she adds.
SportAI aims to enhance tennis player technique through tactical analysis, coaching and commentary
“[Manufacturers] are potential customers for us to take on this type of technology. Sensors themselves are just not scalable – you would either have to put them on a body or on a racket. It is not as scalable as being able to have a video that can come from a mobile phone or from court-mounted cameras, [which] are becoming more common around the world.”
The SportAI business model is mass market and relies on subscription, available to individuals, federations or equipment manufacturers. Kittelsen adds that manufacturers are particularly interested in the biomechanics information that the video can generate.
“[The video can] track the rotations, the speed and the height of the ball, the precision of the ball. [Manufacturers] do not have a lot of data on biomechanics, and so now we can help them with that. It’s not just looking at the result of hitting the ball; it’s looking at how you get that result, and how you improve the swing. And instead of then [just asking] players how the racket felt, we can understand [how they perform] with data,” says Pedersen.
From Hawk-Eye to AI
In an expression of the confidence it has in the system, SportAI says in testing, it had a player serving a ball and captured data using a standard phone with a standard camera at 30 frames a second at 1080px resolution. This had 98% precision compared with data generated using Hawk-Eye, the ball-tracking technology that is currently used at all the major tennis tournaments.
Yet despite the high-tech involved, Pedersen also emphasises clearly that the solution is for everybody. “This is not just about supporting the top, elite players, because the elite players will often have a performance analyst coach on their team who’s manually doing this on video and can deliver it. But the other 90-something million tennis players typically have no access to this data, so we want coaches and players around the world to get it,” she says.
“It’s sort of universal how you create power around [shots], and [knowledge of that] is something we see that recreation players and beginner players [would want]. It’s super motivating to want to get better. And when you have some ground data, you can go out and improve. People then want to go back on court because they want to get better,” adds Pedersen.
In terms of development challenges, the company says a number of business and technical issues have had to come together to get the company to where it is. In addition to gaining investment, the company has had to educate its market by showing coaches and players how they can use the technology and how it can be simultaneously better for both of them.
AI is becoming a commodity – everyone is using AI in some form. Yes, it can make mistakes, but you can still train it to be smarter and better. We see it as a tool to help and assist tennis coaches Lauren Pedersen, SportAI
“In all businesses, in all verticals, there’s scepticism. It was the same with Hawk-Eye. Ten years ago, nobody believed Hawk-Eye to be accurate enough. Now they’re accepting it. That’s going to happen with AI. AI is becoming a commodity – everyone is using AI in some form. Yes, it can make mistakes, but you can still train it to be smarter and better. We see it as a tool to help and assist coaches. It’s not taking their place, because, like you see in other industries, it becomes much more effective and efficient, and makes better decisions.”
According to Kittelsen, one surprise the company found using AI in its system was discovering its basic power, how just a single camera with coded AI algorithms can detect and display complex rotations and velocities. “But also, I want to add that the AI is still doing [some things] wrong, so we have to teach it. We have to teach the machine to take away the error percentages. And with the new cameras [on new phones], the quality of video goes up. The processors are faster.”
Acing video capture
The rest of 2025 will see SportAI rolling out the system for its first customers. The company believes it is being helped by tennis clubs increasingly mounting cameras around their courts, aided by the more powerful and cheaper cameras on phones, resulting in better quality video being more accessible for clubs and federations.
The company has also forged a partnership with the Matchi booking system for racket sports venues worldwide. Matchi currently manages about 15,000 tennis courts, 2,000 of them camera-enabled. SportAI will be taking in video streams from these courts to analyse action. It is also working with some equipment brands to generate technique analysis and offer equipment recommendations.
A key technical development for the company will be moving from cloud processing of data to performing data processing at the network edge. In addition to cost savings, this is intended to make it even faster to analyse data and add the capability to perform 3D video analysis. There will also be work on creating AI agents that can be attached to the app, which could be aligned to a federation or an individual player.
Pederson is adamant that SportAI is in business for the long run, and that the data the app picks up could also be useful for injury prevention and healthcare in general. For example, it could show how players’ joints bend and flag any extreme styles that could lead to injury. “Our vision is to democratise access to this type of data. It’s about seeing that value happen worldwide. We’re passionate about sports and technology. We want to see the most kind of progressive coaches, academies and brands taking it on board and really changing the game.”
Taylor Swift arrives at the 67th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File
Universal Music Group and AI song generation platform Udio have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit and agreed to team up on new music creation and streaming platform, the two companies said in a joint announcement.
Universal and Udio said Wednesday that they reached a “compensatory legal settlement” as well as new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing that will “provide further revenue opportunities” for the record label’s artists and songwriters.
As part of the deal, Udio immediately stopped allowing people to download songs they’ve created, which sparked a backlash and apparent exodus among paying users.
The deal is the first since Universal, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, sued Udio and another AI song generator, Suno, last year over copyright infringement.
“These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what’s right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond,” Universal CEO Lucian Grainge said.
Financial terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
Universal announced another AI deal on Thursday, saying it was teaming up with Stability AI to develop “next-generation professional music creation tools.”
Kendrick Lamar performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans, Feb. 9, 2025. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File
Udio and Suno pioneered AI song generation technology, which can spit out new songs based on prompts typed into a chatbot-style text box. Users, who don’t need musical talent, can merely request a tune in the style of, for example, classic rock, 1980s synth-pop or West Coast rap.
Udio and Universal, which counts Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar among its artists, said the new AI subscription service will debut next year.
Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said in a blog post that people will be able to use it to remix their favorite songs or mashup different tunes or song styles. Artists will be able to give permission for how their music can be used, he said.
However, “downloads from the platform will be unavailable,” he said.
AI songs made on Udio will be “controlled within a walled garden” as part of the transition to the new service, the two companies said in their joint announcement.
The move angered Udio’s users, according to posts on Reddit’s Udio forum, where they vented about feeling betrayed by the platform’s surprise move and complained that it limited what they could do with their music.
Olivia Rodrigo performs during the Glastonbury Festival in Worthy Farm, Somerset, England, on June 29, 2025. Credit: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File
One user accused Universal of taking away “our democratic download freedoms.” Another said “Udio can never be trusted again.”
Many vowed to cancel their subscriptions for Udio, which has a free level as well as premium plans that come with more features.
The deal shows how the rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the $20 billion music streaming industry. Record labels accuse the platforms of exploiting the recorded works of artists without compensating them.
The tools have fueled debate over AI’s role in music while raising fears about “AI slop”—automatically generated, low quality mass produced content—highlighted by the rise of fictitious bands passing for real artists.
In its lawsuit filed against Udio last year, Universal alleged that specific AI-generated songs made on Udio closely resembled Universal-owned classics like Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” The Temptations’ “My Girl” and holiday favorites like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Jingle Bell Rock.”
In the “My Girl” example, a written prompt on Udio that asked for “my tempting 1964 girl smokey sing hitsville soul pop” generated a song with a “very similar melody, the same chords, and very similar backing vocals” as the hit song co-written by Smokey Robinson and recorded by The Temptations in 1964, according to the lawsuit. A link to the AI-generated song on Udio now says “Track not found.”
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Universal Music and AI song tool Udio settle lawsuit and partner on new platform, sparking backlash (2025, October 30)
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“We’re making ‘going electric’ like an appliance swap instead of a construction project,” says founder Sam Calisch. Pictured is an example of Copper’s battery-equipped kitchen range. Credit: Copper
As batteries have gotten cheaper and more powerful, they have enabled the electrification of everything from vehicles to lawn equipment, power tools, and scooters. But electrifying homes has been a slower process. That’s because switching from gas appliances often requires ripping out drywall, running new wires, and upgrading the electrical box.
Now the startup Copper, founded by Sam Calisch SM ’14, Ph.D. ’19, has developed a battery-equipped kitchen range that can plug into a standard 120-volt wall outlet. The induction range features a lithium iron phosphate battery that charges when energy is cheapest and cleanest, then delivers power when you’re ready to cook.
“We’re making ‘going electric’ like an appliance swap instead of a construction project,” says Calisch. “If you have a gas stove today, there is almost certainly an outlet within reach because the stove has an oven light, clock, or electric igniters. That’s big if you’re in a single-family home, but in apartments it’s an existential factor. Rewiring a 100-unit apartment building is such an expensive proposition that basically no one’s doing it.”
Copper has shipped about 1,000 of its battery-powered ranges to date, often to developers and owners of large apartment complexes. The company also has an agreement with the New York City Housing Authority for at least 10,000 units.
Once installed, the ranges can contribute to a distributed, cleaner, and more resilient energy network. In fact, Copper recently piloted a program in California to offer cheap, clean power to the grid from its home batteries when it would otherwise need to fire up a gas-powered plant to meet spiking electricity demand.
“After these appliances are installed, they become a grid asset,” Calisch says. “We can manage the fleet of batteries to help provide firm power and help grids deliver more clean electricity. We use that revenue, in turn, to further drive down the cost of electrification.”
Finding a mission
Calisch has been working on climate technologies his entire career. It all started at the clean technology incubator Otherlab that was founded by Saul Griffith SM ’01, Ph.D. ’04.
“That’s where I caught the bug for technology and product development for climate impact,” Calisch says. “But I realized I needed to up my game, so I went to grad school in [MIT Professor] Neil Gershenfeld’s lab, the Center for Bits and Atoms. I got to dabble in software engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, mathematical modeling, all with the lens of building and iterating quickly.”
Calisch stayed at MIT for his Ph.D., where he worked on approaches in manufacturing that used fewer materials and less energy. After finishing his Ph.D. in 2019, Calisch helped start a nonprofit called Rewiring America focused on advocating for electrification. Through that work, he collaborated with U.S. Senate offices on the Inflation Reduction Act.
The cost of lithium-ion batteries has decreased by about 97% since their commercial debut in 1991. As more products have gone electric, the manufacturing process for everything from phones to drones, robots, and electric vehicles has converged around an electric tech stack of batteries, electric motors, power electronics, and chips. The countries that master the electric tech stack will be at a distinct manufacturing advantage.
Calisch started Copper to boost the supply chain for batteries while contributing to the electrification movement.
“Appliances can help deploy batteries, and batteries help deploy appliances,” Calisch says. “Appliances can also drive down the installed cost of batteries.”
The company is starting with the kitchen range because its peak power draw is among the highest in the home. Flattening that peak brings big benefits. Ranges are also meaningful: It’s where people gather around and cook each night. People take pride in their kitchen ranges more than, say, a water heater.
Copper’s 30-inch induction range heats up more quickly and reaches more precise temperatures than its gas counterpart. Installing it is as easy as swapping a fridge or dishwasher. Thanks to its 5-kilowatt-hour battery, the range even works when the power goes out.
“Batteries have become 10 times cheaper and are now both affordable and create tangible improvements in quality of life,” Calisch says. “It’s a new notion of climate impact that isn’t about turning down thermostats and suffering for the planet, it’s about adopting new technologies that are better.”
Scaling impact
Calisch says there’s no way for the U.S. to maintain resilient energy systems in the future without a lot of batteries. Because of power transmission and regulatory limitations, those batteries can’t all be located out on the grid.
“We see an analog to the internet,” Calisch says. “In order to deliver millions of times more information across the internet, we didn’t add millions of times more wires. We added local storage and caching across the network. That’s what increased throughput. We’re doing the same thing for the electric grid.”
This summer, Copper raised $28 million to scale its production to meet growing demand for its battery-equipped appliances. Copper is also working to license its technology to other appliance manufacturers to help speed the electric transition.
“These electric technologies have the potential to improve people’s lives and, as a byproduct, take us off of fossil fuels,” Calisch says. “We’re in the business of identifying points of friction for that transition. We are not an appliance company; we’re an energy company.”
Looking back, Calisch credits MIT with equipping him with the knowledge needed to run a technical business.
“My time at MIT gave me hands-on experience with a variety of engineering systems,” Calisch. “I can talk to our embedded engineering team or electrical engineering team or mechanical engineering team and understand what they’re saying. That’s been enormously useful for running a company.”
He adds, “I also developed an expansive view of infrastructure at MIT, which has been instrumental in launching Copper and thinking about the electrical grid not just as wires on the street, but all of the loads in our buildings. It’s about making homes not just consumers of electricity, but participants in this broader network.”
This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.
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Battery-equipped kitchen stove makes it easy to switch from gas to electric (2025, October 30)
retrieved 30 October 2025
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This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui shocked the world when he revealed that he had created the first gene-edited babies. Using Crispr, he tweaked the genes of three human embryos in an attempt to make them immune to HIV and used the embryos to start pregnancies.
The backlash against He was immediate. Scientists said the technology was too new to be used for human reproduction and that the DNA change amounted to genetic enhancement. The Chinese government charged him with “illegal medical practices” and he served a three-year prison sentence.
Now, a New York-based startup called Manhattan Genomics is reviving the debate around gene-edited babies. Its stated goal is to end genetic disease and alleviate human suffering by fixing harmful mutations at the embryo stage. The company has announced a group of “scientific contributors” that includes a prominent in vitro fertilization doctor, a data scientist who worked for deextinction company Colossal Biosciences, and two reproductive biologists from a major primate research center. A scientist who pioneered a technique to make embryos using DNA from three people is also involved.
“I like to take on challenges when I see them,” says cofounder Cathy Tie, a former Thiel fellow who left college at 18 to start her first company, Ranomics, a genomics screening service. As Tie sees it, that challenge is making the idea of human embryo editing more acceptable in society.
The idea of editing human embryos is tantalizing because any changes made to the reproductive cells are heritable. Snip out a disease-causing mutation in an embryo and it would be deleted from future generations as well. But gene-editing technology also has the potential to cause unintended “off-target” effects. Edit the wrong gene by mistake and it could give rise to cancer, for instance. Those mistakes would also be passed down to any future children.
While newer forms of gene editing are more precise, there are still ethical issues to contend with. The prospect of being able to manipulate the DNA of a human embryo has raised fears of a new kind of eugenics, where parents with the means to do so could make “designer babies” with traits that they select.
Tie says the goal of Manhattan Genomics—originally called the Manhattan Project when the company first launched in August—is disease correction, not enhancement. Unlike the original Manhattan Project, a secretive US government program during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons, Tie says her venture will operate openly and transparently. “We’re revolutionizing medicine, and this technology is definitely very powerful. That’s what I think is the commonality here with manipulating the nucleus of the atom and manipulating the nucleus of the cell,” she says.
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