An event celebrating the 2026 FIFA World Cup and AI technology, hosted by Lenovo, was held in Beijing, featuring the appearance of the company's global ambassador and football legend, David Beckham.
At the event, Beckham participated in a high-level discussion with Lenovo Group (LNVGY) Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer Qiao Jian, alongside economist Jiang Xiaojuan, exploring how AI is reshaping the sports industry.
Beckham stated that AI is becoming increasingly common in sports and daily life, highlighting it as a major feature of this World Cup, which will utilize the most advanced technology of any tournament to date. He expressed that everyone is eagerly anticipating the event, believing global fans will enjoy it immensely, as AI will change everything. He emphasized that the most important aspect is the new experiences AI brings to fans, while also assisting players, teams, and coaches by providing them with data in real-time.
On stage, Beckham also engaged in a World Cup score prediction challenge against a Lenovo product manager, demonstrating AI's powerful capabilities in match forecasting. Beckham remarked that Lenovo is a very special company with exceptionally talented people, and he is proud to be part of it because it is not only a great company but also a platform that can change the world and have a profound impact through technology.
As the FIFA Official Technology Partner, Lenovo Group is building the technological foundation for the tournament. AI is embedded into the core operational structure, from event management and referee video enhancement to immersive viewing experiences. The company introduced the "Tianxi AI" super agent, which leverages massive match data to provide teams with tactical analysis and decision support services. Simultaneously, it offers fans AI-customized viewing guides; by inputting preferences, users can generate personalized schedules, highlight reminders, and match predictions.
Lenovo Group announced at the event the official public launch of the "World Cup Prediction Human vs. Machine Battle," a joint initiative with Migu Video. Leveraging its AI ecosystem's aggregation capabilities, Lenovo's Tianxi AI super agent has assembled 11 leading domestic AI large language models, including DeepSeek, Kimi, Stepfun, and China Mobile Jiutian, to form a "12-AI Prediction Dream Team." This team will compete with fans by making predictions for all 104 matches of the tournament, marking the world's first World Cup human-machine prediction contest featuring multiple AIs alongside the public.
Yang Fu, Vice President of Lenovo Group, stated that the company is deeply empowering this World Cup with AI solutions, from event operations to immersive viewing, striving to create the first AI-empowered World Cup. He added that through this pioneering global human-machine prediction contest, they aim to explore new paradigms for AI interaction with sports, ensuring AI not only serves the field of play but also reshapes the World Cup experience for every viewer.