By Jacob Camenker
Publication Date: 2026-01-01 11:01:00
Jan. 1, 2026, 6:01 a.m. ET
Microsoft Copilot AI’s hot streak picking NFL games game to a halt in the penultimate week of the 2025 regular season.
Copilot posted a record of 8-8 in a week characterized by upsets that shook up the NFL playoff picture. Most notably, the chatbot was burned after backing favorites like the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers, who dropped games that were critical to keeping the teams in their respective playoff races.
Copilot will now have the tough task of bouncing back amid the uncertain backdrop of Week 18, as USA TODAY Sports continues its experiment in which the chatbot predicts the results of every NFL game.
As always, a simple process was utilized to generate Copilot’s picks. The AI chatbot was prompted to pick the winner of all 16 NFL Week 18 games and to provide a score projection for each matchup. The query used to generate the results was as follows:
- Can you predict the winner and the score of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Carolina Panthers NFL…
