We are firmly in the midst of an AI revolution. Whatever you think of the nascent technology – and it’s debatable how and where its impact will be felt – it’s clear that it will lead to changes across society, perhaps in much the same way as the internet and smartphones did, perhaps more.
The tech is clearly in its infancy, so it is interesting to see some of the nascent use cases. On the grander scale, we see things like AI being used for drug evaluations through a partnership between OpenAI and the FDA, or you might see automation of coding, where GitHub and other platforms now see massive amounts of AI-generated code.
Yet, there are also the smaller, targeted use cases, and one we have seen of late is the use of AI as a sports betting prediction tool. It’s something that is interesting, yet it is also something to be wary of. At the very least, bettors should have an understanding of how AI works to better appreciate what is going on underneath the hood.
AI sports Prediction Tools Have Some Merit
The first and most important thing to state is that AI is not a cheat code to guarantee success in betting. If you look at football betting, for instance, you’ll know as a fan that anything can happen in a game.
Look at the ridiculous outcome in the Europa League Quarter-Final Second Leg between Manchester United and Lyon: five extra-time goals; United somehow coming back from 4-2 with minutes remaining; Lyon taking the lead in extra-time despite being down to ten men. AI – and basically nobody else – could have predicted that.
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The point, as such, is that there is always an air of unpredictability in sports, so if someone touts an AI tool as offering the key to predicting sports with certainty, it is more likely a scam than your gateway to betting success.
And yet, there are merits to the technology for sports betting. For a start, if you like stats-based betting, then AI can analyze vast amounts of data to build the optimum bet based on value.
The term value is important here because it gets at the heart of what we are talking about. You can’t guarantee success, but you can pinpoint anomalies in the odds versus the available data. A human eye might not be able to spot that the odds for the Boston Celtics to win a game by 11.5 points offer value, but AI can.
Ai Must Have Good Data To Make Logical Predictions
However, we have to add another caveat: AI is data-dependent. It does not have access to all the data needed to make these reasoned predictions on value. ChatGPT, for example, can’t access the web and visit millions of sites to tell you what is the best bet for tonight’s football games. It must have access to good and relevant data.
In theory, though, you could train an AI bot to solid data and let it compare it to the betting lines. It would arguably require subscriptions to professional sports data aggregator providers, so you would have to factor that into your profit margins. As long as the data is relevant and up-to-date, there is no reason why an AI bot won’t be able to pinpoint the value available in the odds.
In the end, you just have to bear in mind that it is about finding potential value in the betting for your strategy, not delivering guaranteed wins. If you need convincing, go back and watch that game between Manchester United and Lyon, or go watch how an injury to star player Jayson Tatum turned the Boston Celtics’ season upside down in a matter of seconds. Sports are unpredictable, and that’s part of what make them popular.
