In the shadow of PTPro and Trening.FIT, a parallel innovation project developed, aimed at creating dynamics and engagement through friendly competition: Contest.FIT. This concept functioned as a complementary service that could be connected to the main platform, designed to create a competitive environment where users could measure themselves against each other. The core functionality revolved around an AI agent – a digital judge that automatically evaluated participants’ activity (“picture-shots”), awarded points based on performance, and crowned the best participants through ranking lists showing the top 10. In its first iteration, the platform was more tightly integrated with a social medium, which made it possible for sports and fitness influencers to participate directly through their existing profiles. This created a unique opportunity to collaborate with an already engaged user base.
Success and Shutdown
Contest.FIT received positive feedback from users in its time, especially from influencers who saw the value in being able to showcase their results and be recognized through an objective, AI-driven assessment. The concept of a “judge” that could automatically evaluate and reward was groundbreaking for its time. However, the project’s lifeline was hit when the extension to social media was discontinued. This integration was a critical prerequisite for the original operational model, as it ensured a stream of participants and content. After this, users had to register manually or be evaluated via PTPro’s user data, which significantly reduced reach and engagement. Combined with the technical and economic limitations of the AI technology at the time, this led to the project being shelved in 2022.
A New Horizon with Microsoft Agent Framework
In the three years that have passed since the shutdown, the AI world has undergone a revolution. Where the original AI judge likely struggled with complex image recognition and subjective assessment, today’s tools open up a whole new dimension of possibilities. Specifically, Microsoft Agent Framework stands out as a potential successor that can realize the original vision in a more advanced and powerful way. This framework enables the development of intelligent, capable agents that can understand complex contexts, learn from preferences, and provide more nuanced and fair assessments. An AI judge built on such a modern framework could not only analyze an image but understand training progress over time, assess creativity in posts, and even analyze textual descriptions to provide a holistic score.
Opportunities, Challenges, and Revival
Realizing the Contest.FIT concept today is both exciting and challenging. On one hand, technological advancements make it far more feasible to build a robust and scalable AI judge. Microsoft Agent Framework offers tools for handling complex tasks like natural language understanding and image interpretation in a way that was unthinkable three years ago. The concept can also be extended far beyond just one social medium, to other social platforms or as an integrated part of an app, thereby solving the dependency on a single platform.
On the other hand, there is significant uncertainty associated with a revival. AI technology, especially large language models (LLMs) and agents, is evolving extremely rapidly, and choosing the right architecture and framework is crucial to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. A completely new way of thinking is required, not just an upgrade of dependencies, but a fundamental redesign of how the AI agent functions, is trained, and integrated to ensure its objectivity, fairness, and efficiency over time.
Conclusion: A Future for AI-Driven Competitions
Contest.FIT represents a concept that was ahead of its time, but whose core idea of AI-driven engagement and recognition is more relevant than ever. Through the use of advanced frameworks like Microsoft Agent Framework, the opportunity exists to revive and transform this platform from a shelved prototype into a leading, AI-driven competition arena. The path forward will require a bold and innovative approach, one that is not afraid to rebuild from the ground up and leverage the full potential of modern AI technology. The challenges are real, but the reward, creating a unique and inspiring competition platform powered by next-generation intelligence, is certainly worth the effort.
