Science

Who Wins Colts at Eagles? A.I. Predicts

The return of Wentz is likely to give the Eagles a bit of their swagger back.

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Sunday’s story is going to be all about Carson Wentz. Despite Nick Foles playing hero and bringing the Philadelphia Eagles their first Super Bowl win, the Super Bowl MVP has looked like the long time backup he was better known as through the first two weeks.

As fans in Philly rejoice that their QB is back on the field, the good vibes are happening for Colts fans as well. Luck returned after a year long absence and is starting to play like the All-Pro QB he was just a few seasons ago. The Colts have rebuilt their offensive line both teams are looking to get their record into the black.

To predict the result of this Week 3 match-up, Unanimous A.I. used what’s known as swarm intelligence to forecast the week’s slate. About 40 NFL enthusiasts 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 decision, it triggered a psychological response. They readjusted their decision-making, building toward the consensus you see below.

The Swarm is taking the Eagles here to cover. The return of Wentz is likely to give the Eagles a bit of their swagger back, not to mention the offense should be much improved with the 2017 Pro-Bowler back under center. Colts fans have a lot of reasons to be excited for this season, but Week 3 might not be a bright spot.

The Colts play the Eagles at 1 p.m. Eastern Sunday on Fox.

Unanimous A.I. has made some scarily accurate predictions in the past using swarm intelligence, as our this 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.”

Want to join the hive mind that picks NFL matches every week? Sign up to participate in future predictions

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