AWS and the NFL have enjoyed a long, productive relationship parsing data for statistical use.
At this month’s re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, there was a new wrinkle.
Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud division teamed with Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen, Seattle Seahawks WR DK Metcalf, and Las Vegas Raiders defensive star Maxx Crosby on a generative artificial intelligence (AI) project. The company put AI in the hands of the NFL stars to help them design personalized cleats for the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats initiative.
The cleat design, which leverages Anthropic’s Claude in Amazon Bedrock, helped the players create customized cleats based on a short descriptive prompt, leading to image generation.
The prompt can be as simple as “electric graffiti” or “ocean waves in blue” in an art style that fits their vision – from elegant Watercolor to Grunge and Pixelated. Once aesthetics are established, the players had three primary colors to choose from.
A final touch let players add elements, such as team logos, stickers for specific causes and personalized colors for soles and laces, according to an AWS blog post.
The Finished Products Included:
Allen’s: Dedicated to the Patricia Allen Fund, which supports the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo
Metcalf’s: For The Prison Fellowship, an organization advocating justice reform
Crosby’s: For the Pit for Pets, an animal rescue for large breed dogs.
Supporting Causes
“My cause, my cleats, allows players to wear something different and support causes we really care about,” Allen said in a video provided by AWS. With the help of patients at the children’s hospital, Allen designed shoes with the theme of “under the sea” and “Super Bowl” with the colors yellow and purple. The resulting cleat included sticks of hearts and goal posts.
“AWS GenAI just gave us an open book on what the cleat was going to look like,” added Metcalf in another video.
The AWS-NFL news at re:Invent was part of an AI-related blitz of products, concepts and partnerships that has positioned the company as a major player in the AI arms race next year and beyond.
What it demonstrated with the NFL is likely to gain traction among retailers, especially in shoe apparel and clothing, to offer consumers the ability to customize what they wear.
Another potential customer of the technology are professionals in the creatives fields of art, music and literature.
