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Man vs. Machine: ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Trounces Six AIs in NCAA March Madness Bracketology
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2 min read

By Mark Hazlin

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AI will have to wait a little longer to take over the world.

This weekend, we saw another triumph of man over machine.

Stephen A. Smith, one of ESPN’s leading sports analysts, outmatched six different AI technologies when put to the test. It wasn’t even close to be honest.

The University of Florida narrowly beat the University of Houston in the championship game of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, 65-63.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, with the clairvoyance of a season professional, racked up 145 points. He seemed to be better at measuring the unmeasurable – team dynamic, grit, and other human aspects AI tools did not factor in.

Second place in our tournament, and winner among the AI tools, Précis AI, was still a hefty 42 points behind Smith with 103 points. Microsoft Copilot was close on Précis’ heels with a total of 101 points. Following Copilot was ChatGPT with 79 points.

The full results are as follows:

Can AI predict the unpredictable? Our 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament says no.

Tournaments like this take more than statistics and raw data to predict- it takes a human understanding of the game. Stephen A. Smith was the only participant to even pick the University of Florida.

Humans possess qualities AI tools are not equipped with like emotional intelligence, intuition, and the ability to interpret nuanced social contexts.

While AI excels in processing data and identifying patterns, it lacks the capacity for empathy, finesse in the face of uncertainty, and the flexible problem-solving skills that come naturally to humans.

The sweet spot may be in human and AI collaboration. A study by Stanford has shown that a partnership between humans and AI results in enhanced performance for both man and machine.

Congratulations to Stephen A. Smith for outsmarting six different AI machines.

And congratulations to ourselves, Précis AI, for beating the other five AI tools. Just as we claim: “Dramatically Better Results than Chat GPT.”

This tournament has proved that humans are safe- at least for another year.

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