Who Will Win Arizona Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Rams? A.I. Predicts
Win-now vets vs. young and ahead of schedule.
The Arizona Cardinals got back to their winning ways last week with the addition of running back Adrian Peterson. The Cardinals look to tie up the NFC West race when they visit the Los Angeles Rams Sunday. A hive mind of about 30 NFL fans predict the Rams will win at home.
Neither team is making its reputation on its defense: The Arizona Cardinals won a 38-33 shootout against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, while the Rams have built a 4-2 record on similar high-scoring margins. The big difference in their respective profiles is their age: The Cardinals are veterans in serious win-now mode, while the Rams are a young team ahead of schedule thanks to breakout seasons from running back Todd Gurley and quarterback Jared Goff.
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From their last meeting on New Year's Day 2017.
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 Louis 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. For instance, the swarm went a perfect 7-0 in its most recommended picks for a recent English Premier League slate.
The swarm likes the Rams to win here, though only with low confidence and 81 percent collective brainpower. That said, a lot of the dissenters were just pulling for the Rams with high confidence.
The Rams need to win by at least four points to cover the spread, and the swarm is on shaky ground with this pick. It’s again just a low confidence choice, but the collective brainpower has dropped to a low 76 percent.
The game kicks off 1 p.m. Eastern Sunday on Fox.
