Who Will Win Indianapolis Colts vs. Seattle Seahawks? A.I. Predicts
The Seahawks look to get back on track.
The Seattle Seahawks have looked seriously underwhelming so far, starting 1-2 with their only win a close one against the lowly San Francisco 49ers. But this Sunday they get the Indianapolis Colts, a team dealing with much deeper problems, and a hive mind of more than 35 NFL fans pick Seattle to win.
The Indianapolis Colts did notch their first win of the season last week, beating a favored — if still fairly lowly — Cleveland Browns squad. That’s good! But the Colts remain without injured quarterback Andrew Luck, and they aren’t really a complete team without him under center. The Seattle Seahawks have struggled, but they have shown in past seasons the ability to put things back together after a slow start.
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To predict the result of this and other games, Unanimous A.I. used what’s known as swarm intelligence to forecast the week’s slate. More than 40 NFL fans worked together as a hive mind to make picks. As you can see in the animation below, each participant controlled a little golden magnet and used it to drag the puck toward the answer they thought was the most likely outcome. As the users saw the puck move toward a particular outcome, it triggers a psychological response. They readjust their decision-making, building toward a consensus. Here’s Unanimous A.I. founder Lloyd Rosenberg explaining swarm intelligence at a recent TEDx Talk.
Unanimous A.I. has made some scarily accurate predictions in the past using swarm intelligence, as our previous article explains. Most recently, the swarm went a perfect 7-0 in its most recommended picks for last week’s English Premier League slate.
The swarm likes Seattle here a ton, with 91 percent of the swarm’s collective brainpower picking the Seahawks to win with high confidence.
Thirteen points is a massive spread, especially when both teams in question are 1-2. As such, it’s not surprising the swarm picks the Colts to keep the game close — and really, 10 to 12 points isn’t that close — with 78 percent of the hive mind’s collective brainpower backing Indy.
The game kicks off 8:30 p.m. Eastern Sunday on NBC.
If you liked this article, check out this video of Google DeepMind teaching its A.I. how to dream.