Anyone who has gone to the gym knows that a small correction is very useful: perhaps its squat is not deep enough, its weights are not heavy enough or its shape of flexion is weak.
Usually, a personal coach would help him with that. But the Fitness Peloton equipment company is proposing something different: a camera with AI that detects its movements and gives you real -time comments while exercising.
“It’s like having a personal coach at home for a price fraction,” said Nick Caldwell, product director, in an interview with CBC News.
It is an AI, although it is not an avatar: the squet IQ combines a voice similar to Siri with screen indications.
The company is the last to incorporate artificial intelligence into its physical conditioning equipment. While industry experts and physical conditioning instructors warn that technology has its limitations, they see it as a potential complement, instead of absolute replacement, for traditional personal trainers.
“I think that any physical conditioning company that wants to be in the past, for example, Christmas is definitely thinking about how to integrate AI into its offers,” said Natalia Mehlman Petzela, history professor at the new school that has investigated the fitness industry.
Celebrities coaches versus AI instructors
Peloton, known for its stationary bicycles and online training led by an instructor, became public in 2019, only a few months before a fashion of the Era of the Covid-19 pandemic for the gym team at home helped him navigate the higher levels of the industry’s fitness industry.
The company’s ultra popular instructors developed a worship follow -up, becoming an “incredible asset” with which many riders have “parasocial relations,” said Petzela, referring to a unilateral relationship with a celebrity.
As more people exercised at home, the company’s shares reached a maximum of $ 162 from the United States for Christmas day in 2020. But once the emergency blocks ended and the gyms opened their doors, their value collapsed. The action is now sold for approximately $ 9 per share.
During the heyday of the popularity of Peloton, some instructors even obtained their own lucrative sponsorship agreements with companies such as Adidas and Lululemon, which probably makes them expensive for Peloton, said Petzela.
However, “it would be suicide to replace those instructors with artificial intelligence bots, even if they could make them move or look like them,” he added.
Listening | How Peloton instructors developed a worship follow -up:
While squad will use data from the company’s existing instructors to train AI, Caldwell says that the tool will also “guide” users towards coaches that could be a good option for them.
The objective is not to attract consumers of their morning career or gym session: “We are not trying to make everyone enter into extra traffic race machines at home,” he said.
“But we know that this will be an important part of the physical condition of many people, due to the convenience and affordability of having the team in their own home.”
Can AI replace your coach? Probably not, says the instructor
When it comes to fitness and artificial intelligence, Peloton has a company.
Carol Usa ia stationary bike to build personalized training; The mirror driven by the Magic company uses technology to correct the representatives of the form and count; Speediance Gym’s monster uses a “AI coach” to suggest adjustments; and the tonal equipment company has integrated in its weightlifting machine.
“There is a great financial advantage for technology companies to move to the fitness industry because many of them are already developing this technology,” said Petzela, noting that portable devices are already popular in the athletic world.
But not all in the fitness industry rush to adopt the latest technology. The personal coach Carlo Celotti keeps him simple in the gym who is co -owner in Toronto.
“If it’s iron and it’s heavy, we will probably use it. That’s our style. Because at the end of the day, you really don’t need much more than that,” he told CBC News.
When it comes to using artificial intelligence for the exercise, Celotti said that he appreciates any tool that encourages people to get and stay active, but AI cannot recreate the experience of working with a coach, he adds.
“There are times when we use verbal signals to correct someone. Maybe that will not work with certain people and we will have to use tactile signals. It will be difficult to do something like that where we can,” said Celotti.
As such, you are not worried that AI takes away the people of your business. Many of those clients come to the gym for community experience, which was especially evident after the blockages ended, he said.
“He is making a hard effort among other people who are doing the same. There is something that only brings together people.”
