Beleaguered Antonio Conte just can’t bring in players like he wants, as he lamented after his side’s Carabao Cup loss to Arsenal last week. But his mind may be on other matters on Wednesday — which is also Transfer Deadline Day — as Chelsea host AFC Bournemouth in London.
Despite speculation that the Italian manager may soon be out of job over fickle owner Roman Abramovich’s penchant for firing managers quickly, Chelsea are sitting pretty: Three points behind Manchester United in the league table, good for third place. And they’re expected to easily defeat Bournemouth, according to a “hive mind” of football enthusiasts.
To predict the result of this and other matches, Unanimous A.I. used what’s known as “swarm intelligence” to forecast the week’s fixtures. Thirty-five Premier League fans worked together as a hive mind to make picks.
Each participant controlled a little golden magnet and used it to drag the puck toward the answer they thought was the most likely outcome. In these exercises, when a user sees the puck move toward a particular outcome, it triggers a psychological response. The user readjusts their decision-making, and the group builds toward a consensus. Here’s their prediction:
The swarm feels strongly that Chelsea will win on Wednesday.
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 already this season in the English Premier League.
Chelsea vs. Bournemouth kicks off at 2:45 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.*
