It’s that time of year again when basketball fans try to fill out the perfect NCAA March Madness bracket. As technology and the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) and artificial intelligence become more advanced, why not use them to help pick winners? Although AI continues to advance and get smarter, there are still unpredictable variables in play.

However, could AI predict those outcomes? It’s almost impossible to predict Cinderella runs, such as Loyola Chicago’s Final Four run as the No. 11 seed in 2018. Even more difficult is predicting the very rare 16 seed over a 1 seed in the first round. This has only happened twice. The first time in 2018 and the second time in 2023.

While AI is an excellent tool to get guidance on March Madness matchups, the chances of it predicting a perfect bracket seem slim.

Let’s start with the First Four games with the bubble teams.

We asked the AI tool Perplexity to predict the outcomes, including all potential upsets. First, we had to make our own predictions with the First Four teams. Based on who was favorited, we decided American and Alabama State would make it in as the last two 16 seeds, and Xavier and North Carolina would make it in as the final two seeds. Here’s how the first-round upsets shaped up.

Photo: Rokas Tenys/Shutterstock

First Round Upsets

South Region

  • UC San Diego (12) over Michigan (5)
  • Yale (13) over Texas A&M (4)
  • New Mexico (10) over Marquette (7)

East Region

  • Liberty (12) over Oregon (5)
  • VCU (11) over BYU (6)
  • Vanderbilt (10) over St. Mary’s (7)

Midwest Region

  • McNeese (12) over Clemson (5)
  • Xavier (11) over Illinois (6)
  • Utah State (10) over UCLA (7)

West Region

  • Colorado State (12) over Memphis (5)
  • Drake (11) over Missouri (6)
  • Arkansas (10) over Kansas (7)

All of the other results had the favorites winning their first-round games. It’s important to note that Perplexity uses multiple sources to make its predictions. Let’s move on to the second round, shall we?

Round of 32 Results

Here’s what we got for the second round of the tournament:

South Region

  • Auburn (1) over Creighton (9)
  • Yale (13) over UC San Diego (12)
  • Iowa State (3) over Ole Miss (6)
  • Michigan State (2) over New Mexico (10)

East Region

  • Duke (1) over Mississippi State (8)
  • Arizona (4) over Liberty (12)
  • Wisconsin (3) over BYU (6)
  • Alabama (2) over St. Mary’s (7)

Midwest Region

  • Houston (1) over Gonzaga (8)
  • McNeese (12) over Purdue (4)
  • Kentucky (3) over Xavier (11)
  • Tennessee (2) over Utah State (10)

West Region

  • Florida (1) over UConn (8)
  • Maryland (4) over Colorado State (12)
  • Drake (11) over Texas Tech (3)
  • St. John’s (2) over Arkansas (10)

Interesting results from Perplexity with a few upsets heading into the Sweet 16. According to AI, McNeese, Yale, and Drake are setting themselves up for a Cinderella run.

Sweet 16 Results

Unfortunately for McNeese, AI predicts that this is the end of the Cinderella run with a loss to Houston. The same goes for Yale, with AI predicting the team will lose to Auburn. It also predicts that the Sweet 16 will be the end of the road for 11-seed Drake. Here are the results.

  • Auburn (1) over Yale (13)
  • Michigan State (2) over Iowa State (3)
  • Duke (1) over Arizona (4)
  • Alabama (2) over Wisconsin (3)
  • Houston (1) over McNeese (12)
  • Tennessee (2) over Kentucky (3)
  • Florida (1) over Maryland (4)
  • St. John’s (2) over Drake (11)

This takes us into the Elite Eight, with AI predicting only 1 and 2 seeds making it to the Elite Eight.

Elite Eight Results

According to the AI outlet Perplexity, only one No. 2 seed will make it to the Final Four and that is Michigan State, a favorite amongst experts. Here are the results:

  • Michigan State (2) over Auburn (1)
  • Duke (1) over Alabama (2)
  • Houston (1) over Tennessee (2)
  • Florida (1) over St. John’s (2)

One thing that stands out with AI, it really likes the No. 1 seed. However, could the NCAA tournament be too unpredictable for AI? Many sports fans will look at these results and say, “There is absolutely no way,” and they would have every right to think that because of the history of March Madness. Anyway, let’s see the final results.

Final Four & Championship Results

  • Florida (1) over Michigan State (2)
  • Duke (1) over Houston (1)

AI predicts that Duke and Florida will face off in the NCAA Basketball National Championship. The winner of it all? The Florida Gators. We even asked AI to predict a final score: Florida 74, Duke 71. Apparently, it’ll be a nail-biter!

AI’s March Madness bracket

While this was fun using AI to hopefully predict the perfect bracket, the chances are slim. We decided to make our bracket using all of these results. Be sure to check back in when the tournament is over!