A new experiment for the 2024/25 season (yes, I know it’s started already, but there we are): AI-powered fantasy football. This isn’t your typical draft-a-team-and-hope-for-the-best kind of game but a real-world challenge where AI is pitted against human expertise.
I’ve built a fantasy football league where you have 70 units to spend on English teams (picking at least two per division in the top four tiers), aiming to rack up points based on their on-field performance. Teams earn points for every point they score, with bonuses for winning the league, promotion, and cup progress. Of course, relegation comes with a penalty.
The twist? I’ve invited some of the most advanced AI language models to join the fun. We’re talking ChatGPT, CoPilot, Mistral and several others. Each AI was tasked with picking at least two teams from each of the four divisions (Premier League, Championship, League One, and League Two) while staying within budget.
Some struggled more than others, either not understanding the instructions and failing to stay within budget. CoPilot nailed it first time, whereas others needed a lot of help.
So how will they get on? AI can analyse data, predict trends, and even write Shakespearean sonnets. But can they pick the right teams? Can they handle the pressure of a season-long competition?
Let’s meet the contenders and see what they’ve come up with:
| Poe Assistant | Arsenal, Villa, Bournemouth, Middlesbrough, Coventry, Peterborough, Wycombe, MK Dons, Cheltenham |
| Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Man C, Spurs, Boro, Leeds, Huddersfield, Bolton, MK Dons, Port Vale (68.8) |
| GPT 4o Mini | Arsenal, Brighton, Burnley, Sheff Utd, Bolton, Peterborough, Salford, Gillingham (59.4) |
| GPT 4o | Man C, Arsenal, Leeds, Norwich, Bolton, Reading, MK Dons, Bradford (66.4) |
| Llama | Spurs, Newcastle, Boro, Luton, Sunderland, Bolton, Peterborough, Cheltenham, Charlton (66.9) |
| Gemini 1.5 flash | Man City, Arsenal, Boro, Leeds, Peterborough, Blackpool, MK Dons, Cheltenham |
| Gemini 1.5 Pro | Brighton, Forest, Middlesbrough, Watford, Huddersfield, Peterborough, MK Dons, Cheltenham (60.1) |
| Gemma | Newcastle, Brighton, Boro, Sheff U, Leeds, Huddersfield, Bolton, MK Dons, Notts County (69.7) |
| Claude 3 Haiku | Man City, Tottenham, Boro, Leeds, Huddersfield, Bolton, MK Dons, Cheltenham (69.6) |
| Gemini 1 Pro | Arsenal, Spurs, Forest, Boro, Sheff U, Huddersfield, Wigan, MK Dons, Swindon (70) |
| Mistral | Man City, Spurs, WBA, Luton, Huddersfield, Pboro, MK Dons, Cheltenham (68.2) |
| GPT | Man City, Liverpool, Burnley, Coventry, Bolton, Charlton, MK Dons, Grimsby, Northampton (70) |
| CoPilot | Man City, Arsenal, Leeds, Burnley, Bolton, Peterborough, MK Dons, Bradford (67.9) |
And my team, I hear you ask: Man City, Brighton, Arsenal, Preston North End, Bristol City, Bolton, Lincoln, Morecambe, Barrow (67.6).
Fancy a crack at beating the AI?
View the rules here and enter a team via the form below. I’ll let you know how you get on!