It seems many teams across baseball had been using artificial intelligence to help with in-game decisions, but Major League Baseball is putting a stop to the practice.
Teams were taking their league-provided iPads and installing custom applications that pushed the devices “beyond their originally intended purpose to include recommendations regarding substitutions, pitch calling, and other in-game decisions traditionally made by players and coaches,” the league said in a memo obtained and reported by Eno Sarris for The Athletic.
“As much as a third of the league used the dugout iPads for at least one of these purposes, according to people with knowledge of the technology who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the issue candidly,” Sarris wrote. “The league memo was issued June 11 and gave teams more than a month to adjust before the ban took effect on Wednesday, in time for the start of the season’s second half Thursday.”
What are the iPads supposed to be used for?
As Evan Drellich, also of The Athletic, detailed in 2021, those iPads were supposed to only be able to show live in-game video.
“For the first time, we’re going to be allowing players to view live in-game video via an iPad in the dugout or bullpen during the game,” MLB chief operations and strategy officer Chris Marinak. “The iPads are issued by MLB and fully controlled so that the players can only use the app that we’ve put on the device. They can’t access the internet for browsing or social media or any other kind of functions. The iPads are completely locked down and monitored with the software that we have on there.”
For what it’s worth, the videos put on the iPad aren’t exactly “live.” They’re uploaded after each half-inning, and they exclude potentially damaging footage like catchers’ signs.
It’s unclear what happened with the “locked down” nature of the iPads, as it seems like up to 10 teams were able to circumvent those restrictions.
Sarris’ report indicates that some teams are frustrated with the ban, but it’s intended to keep everyone compliant with league rules on sign stealing, and no one will be punished.
“Gotta stop the cheating before there’s cheating now,” said a front office executive.
