Referees assisted by AI? What exists and what is missing
Technology is already present in refereeing: goal-line technology, VAR and, in some competitions, semi-automated offside, which combines cameras that track players with a sensor in the ball to detect the exact moment of the pass.
These are decisions that can be measured: was the position offside? Did the ball cross the line? For those, AI and sensors are very useful and fast.
What is hard are judgement calls: was it a foul or a normal collision? Was there intent in a handball? Does it deserve a card? They depend on interpretation, on the context of the match and on the laws, and there the human hand is still needed.
It is likely that in the future we will see more aids, for example to analyse incidents faster or improve communication with the crowd. But the underlying debate will remain the same: which decisions do we want machines to measure and which do we want a person to make.