The development of AI expertise in sports journalism as a challenge to the genre of sports commentary

Over the past few decades, the methods of instrumentalizing sports behavior, including game rules, goal tracking, timing, and other factors affecting outcomes, have significantly expanded. The accumulated statistics on the application of technology in officiating and journalism are already competing with traditional commentary. Innovations are changing the logic of sports, minimizing errors, and accelerating decision-making. The main question is: Does AI analytics in sports media contribute to the development of sports journalism and the growth of audience interest? The subject of this research is the influence of AI expertise through expedited data analysis, automatic text generation, content personalization, and virtual commentators on the genre and professional characteristics of sports commentary. The object of the study is the transformation of sports journalism under the influence of artificial intelligence. Special attention is paid to the changing role of journalists and professional standards. The analysis focuses on the hypothesis that AI analytics in sports increases the accuracy of recording sports events while expert journalism retains an advantage in context and emotional engagement with the audience. The methodological basis of the research is an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of journalism, sociology, and information technology. A systematic approach was used to analyze the structure of sports journalism, which allowed for the identification of the features of AI technology integration. The analysis of the synthesis of AI with sports expertise revealed issues of reliability and the human factor in journalism. Case studies of successful AI implementation in sports were examined. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the emphasis on the transformation of professional competencies and new creative challenges for sports journalists due to the use of AI in real-time. The hypothesis that widespread use of AI will not replace humans and will not make journalism entirely neural network-based was tested. Empirical data from surveys of journalists show that 79% of respondents have a positive attitude toward AI in their work, while the audience perceives AI-generated texts as reliable, although reader interest depends on engagement in sports. The results obtained expand the model of human collaboration with AI and may serve as a foundation for new educational programs and standards for journalists. A conclusion-prediction is made that the new model of sports journalism implies cooperation between humans and AI with a delineation of areas of responsibility, where the creative and emotional aspects remain with the journalist, while the objective-factual components are delegated to the neural network.