These boots were made for talking in natural language.
The San Antonio Spurs are pioneering a values-driven approach to enterprise AI adoption that has transformed their organization both on and off the court. By implementing ChatGPT Enterprise within their operations, the NBA franchise has created a model that balances technology innovation with their cultural foundations of humility, teamwork, and purpose, yielding measurable results while helping them compete effectively as a smaller market team.
The big picture: The Spurs have achieved remarkable AI adoption metrics across their organization in under six months, with staff AI fluency increasing from 14% to 85%.
- Employee confidence with AI tools has surged, with 94% of staff reporting greater comfort and capability using these technologies.
- The organization has reclaimed approximately 1,800 hours monthly through AI-enabled efficiencies, allowing staff to focus on higher-value activities.
Why this matters: As a smaller market team, the Spurs must find competitive advantages through innovation rather than market size or financial resources.
- Their AI strategy demonstrates how sports organizations can leverage technology to overcome market limitations and enhance operations across multiple departments.
Key details: Employees have created custom GPTs that now support critical business functions across the organization.
- Staff-built AI tools have been successfully deployed in partnerships, marketing, analytics, ticketing and people operations.
- Applications range from fan sentiment analysis to counterfeit detection, showing the versatility of their AI implementation.
What they’re saying: Spurs leadership views AI as a decision-accelerator that helps them operate more effectively in a competitive environment.
- “In a market like San Antonio, we have to figure out how to do things differently… Sport is no different from a business standpoint and businesses are won by decisions that are made. AI actually helps us make decisions a lot faster,” a team representative explained.
The fan experience: The organization has integrated fan-centric approaches into their AI implementation to fulfill their core mission.
- “Ultimately, our mission is to unite fans through unforgettable experiences and we’re able to only succeed through that by fully understanding how their experience is going,” noted one team leader.
- They’ve incorporated a “fans hierarchy of needs” into their custom GPTs to better understand and enhance the supporter experience.
Looking ahead: The Spurs view AI adoption as an opportunity to unlock greater human potential within their organization.
- “We’re trying to figure out how can we create competitive advantages, and being early adopters of artificial intelligence is an area I think we can create expanded experiences for our employees, for our team members, for our fans and partners,” a team representative stated.
- Leadership hopes the efficiencies gained will “allow the brilliant minds in this room to solve even bigger problems.”
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