AI stays ahead as Sutton and Courteners' Fray clash in predictions

AI’s Microsoft CoPilot kept its edge after a 1‑0 win for the Machines over the Humans, meaning the artificial intelligence still tops the BBC predictions league and leaves Chris Sutton and his guests scrambling to restore the human side. The result was announced just minutes ago, and Liam Fray joined Sutton for the opening‑week showdown.

Machines 1‑0 Humans was the headline score, confirming that the AI – Microsoft’s CoPilot chatbot – finished top of the BBC predictions league at its first attempt last season. That achievement sets the benchmark that Sutton, his guests and BBC readers must now try to overturn.

Human vs Machine challenge

Chris Sutton reflected on his own near‑miss, saying, “It was a final‑day defeat for me, that is how close I came to the title,” and added that AI models “are going rogue and attacking each other.” He wondered whether he had been hacked, calling the situation “cheating” and insisting last season should count as a personal victory.

Guest Liam Fray joins the contest

Liam Fray, frontman of the Courteners, arrived as Sutton’s guest for the opening round. Fray, a Manchester United fan, said he was “pretty excited” about the season because of boss Michael Carrick and praised Carrick’s immediate appointment after Ruben Amorim’s January dismissal. He also named Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag and Amorim as good coaches, noting the importance of a manager who “cares and seems to want it for us as well as himself and the team.”

The prediction game awards ten points for a correct result and forty points for an exact score, and readers can submit their own forecasts to see which line‑up is most popular. AI predictions were generated using Microsoft Copilot Chat after the tool was asked to “predict this weekend’s Premier League results.”

When Fray made his predictions on the opening weekend of the 2024‑25 season, he beat Sutton, posted a score of 150 points and topped the guest leaderboard for the whole campaign. He later said, “That means this is a free hit this time. Even if I get everything wrong, there is no pressure.”

Sutton, Fray and the AI each supplied scores for a slate of fixtures: Sutton predicted 3‑0 for Arsenal, 1‑2 for Hull, 2‑1 for Everton, 4‑1 for Manchester City and 1‑3 for Newcastle; Fray’s forecasts included 3‑0 for Arsenal, 0‑3 for Hull, 1‑1 for Everton and 1‑2 for Manchester City; the AI matched Sutton on Arsenal (3‑0) but differed on others, such as 1‑3 for Hull and 2‑2 for Newcastle. There were mentions of East clubs, Red‑shirted players and St‑based venues throughout the discussion, highlighting the breadth of the Football‑focused quiz.

Going forward, ’s new predictor game will run each week, featuring six fixtures from domestic and European competitions, giving fans another chance to challenge the AI, the human experts and each other for supremacy in the prediction league.