COLUMN : NEWELL ’ S NOTES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a freelance writer and photographer , Rob Newell has been reporting on fishing tournaments for more than 20 years , finding the stories between fish and angler to be a stretched line of triumph , heartache , torture and inspiration . artifishal intelligence
If you think we ’ re using high technology to catch fish now , just wait for AI to take hold in bass fishing
W hen I was a kid , I watched all the Star Wars and Star Trek movies thinking devices like handheld computers , flip-top communicators , robots , tractor beams and lasers were things of future fantasy . Since then , I ’ ve seen all the aforementioned “ Space Age ” items become reality . The speed at which the Space Age is approaching is getting faster , and the next technological revolution looks to be artificial intelligence .
Artificial intelligence , or AI , is poised to enter into every aspect of our lives for the foreseeable future . Much like the internet and social media , big tech is going to toss AI into the laps of humanity like a hot potato and let us sort out the good from the bad from the ugly .
Even at its most basic level , AI ’ s ability to worm its way through massive fields of data to find specific patterns or data points in a matter of seconds is stunning . While this new technology could have hundreds of more altruistic applications , I ’ m focusing on some of the places AI will show up first in the sport of competitive fishing . With that , I must provide this disclaimer : These possible AI uses in bass fishing are purely speculative on my part and were not generated by AI itself .
history in a flash
Tournament anglers of all levels often spend hours researching historical tournament coverage on the internet to prepare for events . This is
18 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2023