From centre court to control room - What Wimbledon’s Hawk-Eye glitch tells us about the future of AI oversight

In a fourth-round match between Britain’s Sonay Kartal and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Hawk-Eye Live failed to detect three consecutive balls that clearly landed out. Minutes later, the match was halted, the points replayed, and the tournament’s tech partner, Hawk-Eye Innovations, was forced to explain why the cameras had simply gone dark.

The reason? A court operator had accidentally deactivated the system, and no one noticed – not immediately, at least.

The incident was one of two that week. In another match, a ball boy retrieved a serve before the system had finished tracking the point, causing it to malfunction mid-rally. Again, no human caught the error in real time.

But it is important to know that in both cases, the tech worked as designed, but only when active. And it was human error, whether an accidental manual deactivation or missed steps by operators and umpires, proved to be the weak link.

The lesson here is that even the most accurate tech is only as reliable as the humans who deploy, monitor, and understand it.

Humans and tech - A symbiotic relationship

Hawk-Eye, which replaced line judges at Wimbledon in 2025, uses 10 high-speed cameras and complex algorithms to track the ball’s position with an accuracy margin of less than three millimetres. But in practice, it relies on the same thing any technology does: people.

To ensure safe and productive collaboration between humans and machines, it’s important to focus on making sure people understand the technology and their roles in operating it.

Wimbledon’s Hawk‑Eye errors provide a cautionary tale – not against innovation, but about overconfidence in automation without proper human anchoring. The system is impressively precise, yet its reliability was threatened not by a bug but by human missteps.

The message is clear: with all our AI, automation, and technological progress, human intelligence still calls the shots.

AI shaped by human values

A Forvis Mazars survey of 300 C-suite executives revealed that most business leaders believe AI can only perform with human intelligence. They recognise that success requires human analysis and insight, alongside creativity and imagination, and human industry-specific expertise. Successful business transformation also requires leadership and people management.

We believe that human intelligence must remain at the heart of AI adoption. Our teams work across disciplines to help organisations navigate the evolving landscape of AI, regulation and technology with clarity and confidence. From foundational education to strategic implementation, we empower all stakeholders with the knowledge and tools to safely and effectively harness AI solutions for business.

Author: Foyaz Uddin, Head of Data and Digital Advisory