Science

Who Will Win Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants? A.I. Predicts

Eli Manning is back!

Getty Images / Thearon W. Henderson

The Dallas Cowboys aren’t quite out of the playoff hunt entirely, but their margin for error has shrunk to zero when they have to make up a two-game deficit with four to play. The New York Giants are… oh, where to even begin with the New York Giants. A hive mind of about 30 NFL fans predicts the Cowboys will win.

At 6-6 after a 13-3 campaign last year, the Cowboys rank as one of the NFL’s big disappointments. That doesn’t feel quite fair, but I’m sorry, I don’t have a lot of time for Dallas this week, because we need to check in on the latest chapter in the absurd New York Giants soap opera. So head coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese were both fired one game after the decision to bench Eli Manning in favor of Geno Smith, ending Manning’s streak of 210 consecutive starts, the second longest in NFL history. And now… Eli is back! That all accomplished literally less than nothing. Plus Steve Spagnuolo is now the interim coach. He looks like this. What a season it’s been!

From their game earlier this season.

Getty Images / Tom Pennington

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 hive mind predicts the Cowboys will win, making the pick with high confidence and 84 percent brainpower.

Unanimous A.I.

The swarm predicts the Cowboys will win by seven to nine points, though that’s only with a low 73 percent brainpower. That’s quite a bit more than the Vegas line, which has the Cowboys by 3.5.

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

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