Who Wins Chiefs at Steelers? A.I. Predicts

The Pittsburgh Steelers are looking to rebound from a disappointing Week 1 game in Cleveland that resulted in a tie. Meanwhile, running back Le’Veon Bell isn’t back yet because of contract disputes, and won’t show up anytime soon, after some teammates verbally expressed displeasure about his actions this the week. They’ve still got star receiver Antonio Brown, but second-year running back James Conner tallied an impressive stat line of 192 total yards and two touchdowns.

The entire NFL watched the Kansas City Chiefs unleash an explosive arsenal last week. Quarterback Pat Mahomes flourished in the passing game, and flex standout Tyreek Hill looked unstoppable in almost every phase of the game. However, Kansas City will be playing on the road for the second consecutive week, and the Steelers know that they’ll have to be a more physical unit on Sunday to stop the Chiefs elusiveness.

To predict the result of this Week 2 match-up, Unanimous A.I. used what’s known as swarm intelligence to forecast the week’s slate. A group of 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.

Pittsburgh is projected to win by four points this week. The results from the hive-mind agree that the Steelers should walk away with a victory, but a swarm comprised 32 NFL experts believes it won’t be as easy as many think. The Steelers haven’t solved up defensive miscues for years, making their offense the primary factor. If the Steelers win, then that means Kansas City’s passing game, and special teams, are aren’t firing on all cylinders as they were last week. Expect the Steelers to redeem themselves from that confusing display in their opening week.

Unanimous A.I. has made some scarily accurate predictions in the past using swarm intelligence, as our previous article explains. For instance, the swarm picked this year’s Oscar winners with 94 percent accuracy. Here’s Unanimous A.I. founder Louis Rosenberg explaining swarm intelligence at a recent TEDx Talk.

In related news, Unanimous A.I. recently presented a scientific study of its ability to forecast games in the National Hockey League. In a 200-game, 20-week-long study of its Swarm AI in the NHL, it was able to easily outperform Las Vegas expectations, and its “Pick of the Week” was right 85 percent of the time, producing a 170 percent ROI. The paper, titled “Artificial Swarm Intelligence versus Vegas Betting Markets,” was presented at the at the IEEE Developments in eSystems Engineering Conference (DeSE 2018) this month at Downing College in Cambridge, England. In a press release issued with the study, co-author Gregg Wilcox says the technology can be applied to matters outside sports, too. “While it’s fun to predict sports, we are currently applying the same techniques to a wide variety of other domains, including financial forecasting, business forecasting, and medical diagnosis, all with positive results.”

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