The human element in Sports Betting with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now everywhere: it helps our kids to do homework, elderly speak to voice assistants all day long and consider them a friend, while we use it for daily routines or work tasks. There’s also a growing presence of AI in betting with immense amounts of data waiting to be processed and analysed. But can we trust new tools, apps and the information we get from this novel technology 100%?

The AI revolution is hitting the gambling sector

There is no doubt that AI is increasingly being integrated into sports betting and gambling. Algorithms are fed huge amounts of data on team strengths, player statistics, weather conditions, etc. to calculate probabilities and odds. The current accuracy of data at easybets app, available at the link, was unimaginable without AI before.

Advanced machine learning is used to spot trends and patterns that human brains would struggle to recognise. And artificial intelligence offers useful simulation tools where different scenarios can be played out based on input data.

Humans remain a key factor

But while AI already plays a significant role in sports betting, there are significant reasons not to blindly put your faith in technology alone. Because just as human intuition and expertise remain crucial to the game on the field, the same is true for betting.

AI can analyse historical data and derive statistical probabilities. But it still lacks the crucial human component of situational awareness, contextual understanding and judgement. In short, the data-only approach misses out on many important nuances.

Dynamic contextual understanding

One of the primary shortcomings of AI’s approach to sports betting is its one-sided focus on data from the past and present. AI rarely considers possible dynamic developments in the context of future betting scenarios.

An experienced human betting expert, on the other hand, can draw on the in-depth understanding of the mechanics and psychology of the game. The pundit can anticipate how team strategies, tactics and expectations will evolve during a match in changing situations.

Intuitive human judgement

The human element thus adds a subtle and intuitive dimension to the decision-making process. For example, an AI can never fully capture the vibe and mental attitude of a team on a given day.

Experienced betting experts, on the other hand, will know that even if the algorithm favours a strong team, disappointed players may have poor attitude and not perform to expected standards.

Or take the case of key player injury patterns. An AI will analyse historical data sets of injured players – but cannot value the player’s particular importance and chemistry with the rest of the team in the same intuitive way as a human.

The importance of domain context

Another challenge for AI is its lack of in-depth domain understanding of the sport itself and the culture around it. Experienced players or experts often know the finer nuances of a sporting discipline inside and out after years of exposure and immersion.

They get a feel for coaches’ typical strategies, particular players’ strengths and weaknesses, and psychological patterns in the game. The domain knowledge allows the subtle navigation of potential future developments on the pitch and the exploitation of hidden value opportunities.

A hybrid human-AI approach

So where is the middle ground between the world of data-driven AI and intuitive human insight? The answer lies in hybrid models where AI is used as a powerful but secondary tool for the experienced betting expert.

Instead of relying blindly on the AI model’s predictions, the optimal benefit is achieved by letting humans qualify and make the final judgement based on AI output combined with their own expertise. The human expert remains the navigator, with the AI simply providing an input to his judgement.

In this way, we get the best of both worlds – the benefits of AI’s ability to handle big data and statistical mapping combined with the human decision-making ability to factor dynamics, circumstances and emotions into the final domain context-based judgement.

The future of betting and AI

Like it or not, AI is the new technology that is here to stay and we won’t be able to replace it in the near future. The good news is, it won’t be able to replace the human being in case of dedicated experience or weighted expertise, but must complement their judgment.

AI as a useful tool for a lot of fields, such as medicine, law and investment advice would be used and trusted more and more. Our task is to find our way in this new, ever changing world and keep our head clear under the pressure of all these dizzying changes in the world of betting and artificial intelligence.