People turn to AI for a whole range of things, from learning a new language, to setting up a workout routine and brainstorming for a business meeting. The tech has firmly worked its way into modern life and thanks to the superfast processing capabilities and generative interactions, it is being relied on more and more.
When people head online to do their sports betting, they use all ways to improve their strategy. For example, they take advantage of sign-up offers that can provide them with an initial boost on their account, like free bets or cash bonuses. Punters also use different sources, including artificial intelligence, to get information about sporting events, teams and players. Helping drive the odds and services at online bookmakers is AI thanks to its data crunching accuracy, but what about on the user end of things? Can AI play a role by helping predict the outcome of sports events?
What AI Does
AI relies on a pre-trained model that has been taught using a huge dataset to produce an output, and it can also browse the internet if you tell it to. It can’t, therefore, accurately predict the outcome of anything, but it’s “smart” enough to piece together parts of the puzzle to at least have a stab at it.
Using AI for something like this should be for sheer entertainment value and not relied upon for betting, which is best left to an individual’s skill of unravelling statistics and understanding betting odds. But it might give you something to think about. Let’s ask AI what it thinks about the next three World Cups and the potential winners.
World Cup 2026
France came up as favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, with AI citing their great pool of depth in many positions. It noted that star Kylian Mbappé will only be 27 at the time of the tournament, putting him in his prime. In a squad flooded with other young stars like Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga, France are expected to go deep.
So too are reigning European champions Spain with superstar youngsters Lamine Yamal and Pedri available, players who have already performed beyond their years. England were also named by AI thanks to talents like Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer all carrying a strong attacking threat.
AI rightly noted that the tournament will be expanded to 48 teams making things a little more unpredictable. Brazil also had AI backing because of having Endrick and Vinícius Júnior, while it rated Argentina’s chances as hanging on the influence of 39-year-old Lionel Messi’s performance levels.
Ultimately, AI picked France as the winner. Les Bleus have been one of the strongest teams in the world for a long time now and have proven winning form at the World Cup, so it’s not an unreasonable prediction.
World Cup 2030
The football landscape will look quite a bit different in 2030. France again were on AI’s radar as potential winners, with Kylian Mbappé 31 by then and likely leading a rebuilt and youthful side.
According to AI, this looks like being the tournament where most of the current golden generation of youth will be most impactful. So again, Spain, with the likes of Gavi, Nico Williams, Lamine Yamal and Pedri would be hitting their peak and making La Roja a big contender.
As for other teams that could be in the mix, AI predicts Germany could also have a big say in things, bearing the fruit of having players like Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz around the age of 26. It could also be a good chance for England to get close to the title, again being based on the development of their current core of young players.
Spain, though, are the team that AI picked out as the winners of the 2030 World Cup, noting that the final would be on their home turf. There’s logic in the prediction, as they are probably going to have one of the most enviable squads in their prime age.
2034 World Cup
Jumping a long way into the future, the 2034 World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia. AI was a little reluctant to come down on a winner, because of limited data, but with some prodding and prompting it finally produced the name of France, because of their strong pipeline of producing talent. But there was also a positive leaning towards Brazil, based on their culture, talent and history.
What AI Tells Us
The predictions by AI essentially equate to nothing but speculation, just as it is for anyone else. Ultimately there are no shocks there in the names produced as bettors will heavily lean towards the likes of France, Spain, England and Brazil at all three of the tournaments anyway.