Science

Who Will Win San Francisco 49ers vs. Chicago Bears? A.I. Predicts

It's Jimmy Garoppolo time!

Getty Images / Lachlan Cunningham

The brief appearance of recently acquired quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was about the only good thing about the lowly San Francisco 49ers’ loss last week. He now gets his first start for his new team against the equally bad Chicago Bears. A hive mind of about 30 NFL fans predicts the Bears will win Sunday.

The New England Patriots broke up the NFL’s most handsome quarterback depth chart when they trade Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers, and now it’s the Eastern Illinois product’s first real chance to shine since he briefly started during Tom Brady’s four-game suspension last year. That provides a bit of intrigue for what would otherwise be a drab late-season matchup between a 1-10 49ers team and 3-8 Bears squad. Throw in number one overall pick Mitch Trubisky under center for the Bears, and at least there’s the promise of interesting young quarterbacks to get us all through this one.

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From their game last season.

Getty Images / Jonathan Daniel

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. About 30 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.

Unanimous A.I.

The swarm really doesn’t know what to do with this one, ultimately picking the Bears with low confidence and 69 percent brainpower.

Unanimous A.I.

Understandably, the hive mind keeps the final score as narrow as possible, picking the Bears to win by one to three points with 82 percent brainpower. Vegas favors Chicago by three points.

The game kicks off 1 p.m. Eastern Sunday on CBS.

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