Who will win the Super Bowl? Alexa, Siri, and Google are all rolling with the Eagles.
Who knew that so many programmers at tech companies were closet Eagles fans?
AI is on the side of the Eagles.
Leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Birds and Kansas City Chiefs, Amazon’s Alexa has a prediction, and it will please fans across the Delaware Valley.
If you ask Alexa, “Who will win the Super Bowl?” she has a pretty straightforward answer: the Birds.
At this point, you can consider Alexa part of the Philly fan base. In 2018, Alexa correctly picked the Eagles over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. But she also picked the Phillies to defeat the Houston Astros in last year’s World Series, so her Philly fandom has created some blind spots.
What has led to Alexa’s sudden allegiance to Philly sports teams playing in championships? That remains unclear, though an Amazon spokesperson said Alexa’s predictions are based mainly on a breakdown of available statistics and probabilities.
Alexa is a Seattle fan (the location of Amazon’s corporate headquarters), the spokesperson noted, so the Seattle Mariners’ loss to the Astros played some role in the digital assistant’s Red October fandom.
“When we design Alexa’s responses on favorite things, we take Alexa’s backstory into account,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Inquirer in October. “The Mariners were eliminated by the Astros, so Alexa is rooting for the underdog.”
Alexa isn’t alone in backing the Eagles. Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, is also rolling with the Birds, though she seems to be basing her thoughts on the latest sportsbook numbers, which have the Eagles slightly favored heading into Sunday’s game.
“Those in the know say that the Eagles will defeat the Chiefs by 1.5 points,” Siri said when asked her Super Bowl prediction.
Even Google Assistant is feeling the green and white, partially due to the game’s being played at State Farm Stadium.
“This year, the number one seeds from both conferences are battling it out, so picking is tough,” Google Assistant said. “The big game will be held at the Arizona Cardinals stadium though, so I’m getting bird vibes. Eagles for the win!”
The Eagles defeated the Chiefs, 31-17, in the official simulation of Super Bowl LVII on Madden football. But the New England Patriots won the Madden simulation in 2018, a reminder to take all this with a grain of salt — plays like the “Philly Special” are hard for even the smartest robot to predict.
Robots aren’t alone in picking the Eagles. Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski is also on record predicting the Birds will win their second Lombardi Trophy.
“The biggest difference this time around is in the Eagles,” Sielski wrote. “Their roster is deeper and, top to bottom, more talented than the 2017-18 team’s — and the 2022-23 Chiefs’. Their offensive and defensive lines are among the best in the NFL, if not the best. They’re as healthy as a team can be at this time of year.”