Innovation

Who Will Win San Francisco 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks? AI Predicts

Two NFC West rivals in search of their first win.

Getty Images / Joe Robbins

9.14.2017 9:16 PM

It wasn’t so long ago both the Seahawks and the 49ers were the class of the NFC, vying for the right to represent their conference in the Super Bowl. And while at least the Seahawks are still contenders, both teams suffered tough opening week losses. A hive-mind of about 40 NFL fans like Seattle to bounce back Sunday, beating San Francisco decisively.

The Seahawks didn’t look great in their 17-9 defeat on the road against the Green Bay Packers last week. But that was a decidedly more solid effort than the 49ers were able to put together at home in Santa Clara in their 23-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers. For the Seahawks, this figures to be a chance at home to do some course-correcting. For the 49ers, it’s as good a chance as any to show they have a pulse this season.

Subscribe to the Inverse newsletter. Trust us, we’re from the future.

The Seahawks and 49ers last played on New Year's Day.Getty Images / Thearon W. Henderson

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.

Unanimous A.I. has made some scarily accurate predictions in the past using swarm intelligence, as our previous article explains.

Unanimous A.I.

The hive-mind didn’t hesitate in picking Seattle to win here, with a whopping 92 percent of its collective brainpower choosing the Seahawks with high confidence.

Unanimous A.I.

Even so, 13.5 points is a big spread to cover. The hive-mind thinks the Seahawks can do it, but it’s not nearly as confident about it as they are the straight-up victory. This could very much still be a rout, but probably a relatively restrained one.

The game kicks off 4:25 p.m. Eastern Sunday on Fox.

If you liked this article, check out this video of Bob Ross (and his “happy little trees”) as seen through Google’s DeepDream A.I. program.

Related Tags