---
title: "An AI Invented a Weird Sport Called “Speedgate”"
description: "Digital products and services agency AKQA says it has taught an AI to invent a sport by feeding it data about 400 existing sports."
date: "2019-04-16"
modified: "2019-04-16"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-invented-weird-sport-called-speedgate"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "ai"
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "sports"
  - "the digest"
---

# An AI Invented a Weird Sport Called “Speedgate”

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/an-ai-invented-a-weird-sport-called-speedgate.png>)
*\<em\>Image: AKQA\</em\>*

## Speedgate

Digital product agency AKQA says it has taught an artificial intelligence to invent a sport by feeding it data about 400 existing ones, [*TechCrunch* reports](<https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/11/akqa-says-it-used-ai-to-invent-a-new-sport-called-speedgate/>). The resulting never-played-before sport, called "Speedgate," is an unusual mix of soccer and rugby — with a touch of Quidditch.

Speedgate is by turns familiar and bizarre. Two opposing teams of six players pass and eventually kick or throw a ball through one of three gates at either end of a field — as long as it's not the middle one. The team is composed of three forwards and three defenders. Only one defender can be in a gate at a time. No pushing is allowed.

https://vimeo.com/329197612

## Face the Ball

Other games invented by AKQA's algorithm were even stranger. Some other failed ideas the AI came up with include "descriptions for sports like 'underwater parkour,' an exploding Frisbee game, and another in which players pass a ball back-and-forth while in hot air balloons and on a tightrope," [*TechCrunch* writes](<https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/11/akqa-says-it-used-ai-to-invent-a-new-sport-called-speedgate/>).

AKQA even went as far as to organize a Speedgate live demonstration at an [event in Portland](<https://playspeedgate.org/>) last week. The AI even came up with a series of logos using a generative adversarial network and some fun, motivating slogans: "Face the ball to be the ball to be above the ball."

**READ MORE:** [AKQA says it used AI to invent a new sport called Speedgate](<https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/11/akqa-says-it-used-ai-to-invent-a-new-sport-called-speedgate/>) \[*TechCrunch*\]

**More on AI:** *[Future AI Could Take Revenge for How We Treat It Now](<https://futurism.com/ethicist-future-ai-revenge>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)