Nash Consing was riding his bicycle in Brooklyn last week when he crashed into the door of a woman who had gotten out of an Uber and accidentally opened it. The 25-year-old video editor suffered serious injuries that required an ambulance, but not enough to cause him to stop using Strava, an app that lets him track and share his activities with friends. On his way to the hospital, still dazed from the crash, he finished his training session and tapped his followers for an update.
“I just got hit by a car,” Consing wrote. “I’m going to the hospital now (lol). Liv might be a mess.”
Little did Consing know on the day of the accident that Strava had just released an AI feature called “Athlete Intelligence.” The app has long offered detailed metrics like heart rate and speed, but its AI tools can now also spit out a personalized summary of a user’s workout in a coach’s voice.
Still in shock, Consing could only laugh as Strava’s new AI tool provided feedback about her abruptly ended bike ride. I read, “Oh, I hope you’re okay after your car accident!” “Despite the setback, your activity data shows that you are a stable, well-rounded athlete. Keep up the great work!”
athlete intelligence
Founded in 2009, Strava has built a passionate base of fitness fanatics who eagerly track their fitness activities and send each other “kudos,” the equivalent of likes on the app. But the first week of its latest feature has been met with skepticism even from its most avid users, like Consing, who sees athlete intelligence as the latest gimmick in the AI explosion. “I think it’s more interesting, but it’s also kind of pointless,” Consing told Fortune. “It feels more like a meme than anything right now.”
This new AI feature comes at a time when Strava has reached the pinnacle of fitness apps (or run, hike, swim) with more than 125 million users and $150 million in venture funding. It has appeared. In an interview with Fortune, chief product officer Matt Salazar said the company is developing AI tools for new customers who often find it difficult to consume the large amount of information Strava provides. . “That’s exactly where we thought AI as an application could help solve real consumer problems,” he said. “It’s very helpful in making sense of it in a very easy-to-understand way.”
Strava first tested the feature in May at a private conference hosted by Los Angeles Inc., then released it for beta testing to subscribers last week. Salazar said the response has been overwhelmingly positive, but acknowledged what he described as an “injection of humor.”
The tool digests activity, and some users have had fun gamifying the output and posting it on Reddit, such as one user who reported adding “abducted and investigated by aliens” in the description. “Your heart rate is abnormally elevated due to your activity. This is probably caused by an unknown substance injected during your encounter with extraterrestrial life,” the chatbot replied.
Others also criticized the apparent (and sometimes inaccurate) feedback provided by the feature, with one Reddit user commenting that the tool “adds no value and probably costs a ton of money.” did.
“Solving real problems”
Salazar emphasized that Strava’s new AI tool is more aimed at novice athletes, but did not go into detail about how Strava plans to build it or integrate it with other features. , a roadmap that “doesn’t really touch on the future.” ” He added that AI could also help suggest routes. Strava has focused more on its mapping technology in recent years, including acquiring the app Fatmap in 2023.
Despite Strava’s dominant position, more personalized options like Nike Run Club and Runna offer customized training plans, as well as smartwatch companies like Garmin and Coros that offer similar features. still faces a wide range of competition. Salazar pointed out that other apps like Runna are also compatible with Strava.
Since the announcement of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, enterprises have rushed to ride the wave of AI hype, often with disastrous results. When Google introduced an AI box at the top of its search function in May, users found a number of incorrect answers, including a recommendation for a pizza recipe with Elmer’s glue.
Salazar dismissed the idea that Strava is trying to incorporate AI into its platform. “I agree that just deploying technology for technology’s sake is not a worthwhile endeavor,” he says. “Our job is to solve real problems.”
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