I know, I know, you’re probably thinking why should you even bother reading this article about basketball written by someone who barely even knows the difference between an airball and an alley-oop?
Well, I may not know much about basketball, but AI has access to all the expert information available online, and if any program was going to help me stand a chance at perfectly predicting 63 matches, ChatGPT would be my pick.
You see, AI offers access to endless information at the press of a button, and innovations such as Deep Research with agentic AI that can go off and do the work for you, make it a very valuable tool. There’s even a chance you could compete with the most knowledgeable basketball fanatic in your work’s sweepstakes without knowing the difference between Duke and Texas A&M (I don’t mean to offend, I promise).
So here’s how I used ChatGPT to create my March Madness 2025 bracket, to give me a chance at winning $1 million.
Deep Research’s got you covered
(Image credit: Future / OpenAI)
To get started with my attempt to predict March Madness, I decided to ask ChatGPT Deep Research to conduct a full analysis of the past five tournaments, dating back to 2020. After the AI agent went off and did its thing for about 10 minutes, I had a full report at my disposal highlighting the highs and lows of every team and how they have performed in recent history.
While I don’t know much about basketball, I’m a massive soccer fan, so I know that previous results only give you a small piece of the puzzle. That said, there was plenty of information in the report that would’ve been very beneficial in helping someone with prior knowledge make an educated prediction. For example, I quite liked how ChatGPT was able to highlight the best-performing teams from the last five years as well as highlight potential trends for the coming tournament.
One such trend was the concept of underdogs and Cinderella stories. Now, if you watch March Madness regularly this comes as no surprise. After all, it’s because of random upsets that no one has ever perfectly predicted every single game. However, ChatGPT found information related to potential underdogs that could go far, taking up one of the spots in the Final Four, despite being lower than the 8th seed.
I noted down the teams mentioned by Deep Research and kept them in my mind for the following task which was to ask the AI agent to completely predict March Madness, as well as highlight and explain its decisions for choosing each underdog winner.
(Image credit: Future / OpenAI)
A clearer picture
Deep Research completely predicted the 2025 bracket, but using the AI’s results without combining the research I did prior felt like a surefire way to lose my chance at the big bucks. So instead, I combined ChatGPT’s predictions with the analysis it had previously conducted and then used intuition to make the final prediction.
(Image credit: Future / OpenAI)
I’m not going to lie, I have very little belief in my final bracket, but, then again I know that large sporting tournaments are almost impossible to predict, so maybe ChatGPT’s analytic brain mixed with my erratic selection process could pay dividends.
So without further ado, here’s my 2025 March Madness bracket compiled by ChatGPT Deep Research:
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(Image credit: Future / NCAA)
(Image credit: Future / NCAA)
While I don’t think my Final Four prediction is that unrealistic, I’d be shocked to see all of the best teams make it to the end of the competition. How do you think I’ve faired? How does my AI prediction compare to your own March Madness bracket? Let me know in the comments below.
As for whether or not I’d recommend using ChatGPT to predict a basketball tournament? Well, as a huge sports fan and someone who’s incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to soccer, I think Deep Research would be an excellent tool to help compile my own predictions for a March Madness soccer equivalent.
I think if I had an ounce of college basketball knowledge, I’d be able to fine-tune ChatGPT’s research and make an educated prediction that could, in theory, win an office sweepstake, or dare I say it, national competitions like ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. So if you know about basketball, and are struggling to finalize your March Madness predictions, turn to ChatGPT Deep Research and use its extensive knowledge to help finalize your picks.
While I don’t think I stand a chance, ChatGPT might.
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