Shaun White sees AI giving more athletes access to elite training data

Shaun White said artificial intelligence could give more winter-sport athletes access to training insight that once required full-time coaches and expensive support teams. Speaking with Fortune’s Andrew Nusca at Brainstorm Tech in Aspen, the Olympic snowboarder framed AI as an access tool for athletes who do not start with the same resources as their rivals.

White told Fortune he grew up in San Diego, away from snowy mountain towns, and that lift tickets, lodging and food were costly for his family of five. He said some competitors had full-time coaching help when he did not, shaping his view that technology can reduce gaps in training support.

According to Fortune, White said AI can provide information to athletes who previously would not have had that level of access. His comments came as sports organizations and technology companies are expanding the use of automated review, performance tracking and data analysis across competition and training.

AI is already changing calls and training

Major League Baseball says its Automatic Ball-Strike system lets players challenge home-plate calls and have them reviewed. Fortune also noted that tennis and soccer have adopted automated line, boundary and offside technologies, including Semi-Automated Offside Technology in soccer.

George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development has described how AI can work with wearable biosensors to track athletes’ movements and recommend changes to technique. The International Olympic Committee has also published an Olympic AI Agenda that includes plans for using the technology in judging, according to Fortune.

At the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, ski jumpers used high-speed video and motion analysis to study takeoff timing, aerodynamics and in-run speed, Syracuse University News reported. Fortune cited that use case as part of a broader shift toward data-driven feedback in winter sports.

Granville Valentine, vice president of growth and demand for Google Cloud, told the Aspen conference that snowboarders, skiers and skaters once relied on parents or friends to film runs. He said AI can now deliver near real-time feedback using specific performance measurements.

Valentine said Google’s Gemini can create world models down to the hundredth of a millimeter and identify an athlete’s skeletal position and center of gravity. He told Fortune the system can gather data such as velocity, speed and rotation, then return it as coach-style feedback between runs.

White points to injury prevention and judging

White said the tools available to athletes have changed sharply since he began competing. According to Fortune, he recalled using facilities where halfpipes were dug by hand with shovels, while modern equipment now cuts larger ice walls for athletes to ride.

White said AI could also help athletes assess the physical risk of new tricks before attempting them. He told Fortune that earlier generations often tried difficult tricks with limited information about how the move might affect their bodies, while AI could offer projections about strain and injury risk.

White also said the technology has limits. According to Fortune, he said sports should preserve risk, spontaneity and human ability, and he warned against overloading athletes with analysis to the point that it interferes with participation.

White said AI may help judges assess the technical quality of a run more objectively, while also broadening access to performance data for athletes. His central argument, as reported by Fortune, was that the technology should support the human side of sport rather than replace it.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.