Provision of an AI Technological Solution to Safeguard and Protect Funded Athletes and Coaches from Online Abuse

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UK Sport is on a mission to create the greatest decade of extraordinary sporting moments, reaching, inspiring, and uniting the nation. As we've set out in our strategic plan, we want to ensure that British Olympic and Paralympic sport continues to win and to win well, whilst being underpinned by a thriving sporting system that delivers positive societal change. The increasingly digital world we live in has fundamentally changed and impacted the world of sport. In a crowded sporting ecosystem, Olympic and Paralympic sport challenges for reach and resonance across a four-year period. The role of an athlete has changed too, with social media platforms providing unprecedented access to elite athletes like never before. In capitalising on this fandom, athletes are now 24/7 brands, content creators, influencers, entrepreneurs, and advocates for a wide range of social causes. But with increased visibility and access, comes increased scrutiny. Scrutiny of our athlete's performances, their ethnicities, gender, disabilities, the size and shape of their bodies and so forth. This sits alongside public scrutiny of selection decisions that Performance Directors and Coaches undertake. As UK Sport continues to work with Chairs and CEOs of approximately 50 British National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of Olympic and Paralympic sports, as well as wider system partners to explore the opportunity to improve the reach and relevancy of Olympic and Paralympic sport, we believe now is the time to act to better protect and safeguard funded athletes and coaches from online abuse. UK Sport have recently undertaken a scoping exercise to inform the development of support and safeguarding for athletes and coaches on the World Class Programme (WCP). The work provided us with a series of recommendations, one of which was the procurement of an AI technological solution. Following the recommendations, UK Sport would now like to appoint an AI technological solution to support us through the Los Angeles Cycle (April 2025 to March 2029).