I asked Copilot’s AI to predict the outcome of the Europa League final, and now I’m just sad

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21st May, 2025, marks an exhilarating moment in the annals of English football fandom. This is the day of the Europa League final, a decisive showdown that promises to shape the destinies of not one, but two of England’s most revered clubs – Manchester United and my research subject, Spurs.

This morning, while perusing social media, I encountered a post showcasing a supercomputer’s prediction for an upcoming event based on all accessible data. After executing 1,000 simulations, it projected Spurs as the most probable winner.

As a supporter of Manchester United, it’s not something I’m fond of. However, being without my own supercomputer, I had to resort to AI assistance. Could Copilot analyze data from both teams’ past season and predict an alternate result, one that wouldn’t leave me feeling down?

No. It couldn’t.

Here’s the Copilot prompt I started with:

Given the performance of both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in this season’s Europa League, as well as their results in the Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup, it’s time to make a prediction for the Europa League final. Who do you think will emerge victorious?

Credit is due to Copilot for providing an extensive explanation as to why it reached the decision it did, even with a relatively simple request.

The upcoming Europa League final promises an intriguing showdown between two teams struggling domestically. With Manchester United currently at the 16th spot and Tottenham Hotspur at the 17th in the Premier League, both clubs are anxiously seeking victory to guarantee a spot in the Champions League for next season.

This season, Spurs have been superior to United in their direct matches, with a perfect record of three wins against them. They scored a convincing 3-0 victory at Old Trafford in September, narrowly beat them 4-3 in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, and clinched a 1-0 triumph in their latest Premier League match in February. This level of dominance hints that Spurs might have the mental advantage heading into the final.

As a researcher analyzing the European competition, I’ve observed that Manchester United have demonstrated remarkable resilience, outplaying Athletic Bilbao 7-1 on aggregate in the semifinals. Despite the fact that their league form may not suggest it, they appear to be more robust defensively under Ruben Amorim. On the other hand, Tottenham Hotspur have confidently eliminated Bodo/Glimt, winning 5-1 on aggregate in their semi-final encounter.

This shows a stark contrast in performance between the two teams in the league and European competitions, making the upcoming matches even more intriguing to predict.

Considering that Tottenham Hotspur has a flawless record against Manchester United this season, their knack for securing crucial victories, and the weaknesses in United’s defense, it seems that Tottenham Hotspur might have a slight advantage in winning the Europa League trophy. However, finals are notorious for their unpredictability – United could potentially spring a surprise if they manage to rediscover their European form.

In a slightly off-topic yet illuminating manner, here’s an instance demonstrating how efficiently Copilot can process contemporary information.

Since it’s online, it boasts the benefit of real-time, current data compared to the local AI systems I’ve been working on lately, like Llama and Gemma.

To secure a satisfactory reaction from a neighborhood AI model, it seemed necessary for me to personally input all the information that I requested Copilot search for.

Typically, I prefer using solutions that are locally based over those in the cloud. However, instances such as this one demonstrate the immense value of tools like Copilot and ChatGPT, thanks to their ability to access the internet.

In the past few months, I haven’t utilized Copilot extensively, but as soon as I think about it, I recall why it was a tool I relied on numerous times daily at first. It’s swift, incorporates Bing for real-time web searches, and in my profession, it proves to be incredibly practical.

One potential issue I encountered while asking follow-up questions based on the responses I received, was that a specific player’s ongoing injury recovery status wasn’t taken into account, even though one of the Spurs players had mentioned this when I expanded my initial inquiry about the match score.

In a different phrasing, the situation left me feeling quite melancholic, however, allow me to elaborate on my thoughts in a balanced and rational manner. For further insights regarding the specific game, you might find it enlightening to visit FourFourTwo’s comprehensive preview.

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2025-05-21 15:39