USC certainly has a strong history of innovation with new technology. Now, it appears as though that innovation has extended to the Trojans football program.
On Wednesday, John Brice of USA TODAY reported that USC is hiring Conor McQuiston as its director of artificial intelligence. McQuiston is seemingly the first person to hold such a role in college football history.
“Lincoln Riley’s program is expected to name Conor McQuiston as its first-ever director of artificial intelligence for college football, two people familiar with the move confirmed to USA TODAY Sports,” Brice wrote. “The people requested anonymity because the hiring had not been announced. McQuiston is expected to be named to the post Wednesday, June 10.
“McQuiston, who has past experience working in analytics in both the NFL and college football, will report directly to USC general manager Chad Bowden, son of former Major League Baseball general manager Jim Bowden. In his previous role as Notre Dame’s general manager, Chad Bowden hired the program’s first-ever director of analytics Anthony Treash.
“Members of the Trojans football program touted the willingness of athletics director Jennifer Cohen to embrace the move of naming McQuiston as the program’s initial head of AI People with knowledge of the move told USA TODAY Sports that Southern California also intends to hire additional, full-time staffers to support the football program’s analytics department and research.”
As AI becomes more and more widespread in our society, USC seems to be intent on staying ahead of the game. While there a lot of specifics that have yet to be determined, that is seemingly a good thing for the future of both the athletic department and the university as a whole.
For those who are understandably a bit freaked out by this new technology, though, don’t worry—I have no plan to use AI to write my stories for me anytime soon. So if I write something stupid—and I am sure that I will at some point—feel free to blame me, rather than the robots.
