March Madness is nearing a fever pitch as we strategy the second weekend of video games within the NCAA males’s and girls’s basketball match. Both brackets are all the way down to the Sweet 16, and my very own match picks are doing surprisingly nicely. I’m really tied for first place.
That’s as a result of I did not choose them myself. AI did, and would not you understand, it went 28 for 32 within the first spherical and 14 for 16 within the second spherical. You can see all the outcomes under.
I do not know a lot in any respect concerning the groups taking part in on this yr’s NCAA males’s basketball match (or ladies’s), however I’m nonetheless attempting to win my bracket pool. It’s a bit embarrassing as a result of I went to UCLA and attended many faculty basketball video games. I additionally observe the NBA obsessively (go, Lakers!), however I’ve been completely out of it in relation to faculty basketball this yr.
Nevertheless, I signed up for a March Madness bracket pool, and naturally, I do not need to lose. I do not suppose I’ll win first place, however there are some fairly respectable prizes for the Top 5, which appears attainable. I’m assured, not as a result of I’m a fortunate man, however as a result of I used an AI chatbot, extra particularly ChatGPT, to create my bracket for me.
I do not anticipate perfection — in reality, nobody has ever had an ideal bracket within the historical past of the NCAA March Madness males’s basketball match. The odds of an ideal bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. But I do not want perfection. I simply must do higher than my associates, co-workers, relations and everybody else in my pool.
So why not use ChatGPT?
How I requested ChatGPT to fill out my March Madness bracket
There are some ways to ask ChatGPT to fill out a March Madness bracket. Here are a number of totally different eventualities that would have labored, plus the eventual possibility that I selected.
You can play it protected and keep on with largely favorites.
“Fill out my March Madness bracket with a statistically sound and low-risk strategy, prioritizing favorites whereas together with a number of traditionally cheap upsets.”
You can even go a little bit riskier in case you suppose that there may be extra upsets than standard.
“Fill out my March Madness bracket with a mixture of robust favorites, a number of calculated upsets and at the least one darkish horse workforce making a deep run.”
You can even go actually excessive danger, which could result in excessive reward (however most probably not).
“Fill out my March Madness bracket with a daring, upset-heavy strategy — prioritizing large Cinderella runs, main early spherical upsets and at the least one shock Final Four workforce.”
Now that is daring!
Whatever immediate you employ, you may tweak it as you see match. You’ll in all probability be requested follow-up questions anyway, which you’ll be able to reply to get a extra tailor-made bracket. You can go together with robust analytics-based picks or embody scorching groups with momentum. You can select traditionally confirmed upset traits or go together with gut-feeling wild card groups. And there’s all the time a Cinderella workforce, so you may push ChatGPT to incorporate one.
These are all questions that ChatGPT might ask you in subsequent responses, so select correctly.
I personally did not need to go too dangerous with my NCAA bracket, so I opted for a medium-risk immediate.
Here’s the NCAA bracket that ChatGPT selected for me
Using the immediate “Fill out a whole March Madness bracket for me, with a mixture of robust favorites, a number of calculated upsets and at the least one darkish horse workforce making a deep run. Make positive to incorporate the First Four. Use this as a information: https://www.ncaa.com/march-madness-live/bracket,” that is the bracket that ChatGPT (model ChatGPT 4o) generated for me:
Note: ChatGPT initially wasn’t giving me the right groups, so I needed to inform it to make use of the official NCAA web site with the bracket on it as a information. And I additionally needed to point out to incorporate the First Four groups, which it stored lacking. Depending on what model of ChatGPT you are utilizing, you might have to mess around together with your immediate to get an accurate reply.
Here’s the entire 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket with the First Four, robust favorites, calculated upsets, and a darkish horse making a deep run. I’ve additionally added in whether or not ChatGPT accurately picked the winner within the first 52 video games which have been performed to date.
First Four
(16) Alabama State defeats (16) Saint Francis (PA) ✅
(16) Mount St. Mary’s defeats (16) American ✅
(11) North Carolina defeats (11) San Diego State ✅
(11) Texas defeats (11) Xavier ❌
South Region
First Round
(1) Auburn defeats (16) Alabama State ✅
(8) Louisville defeats (9) Creighton ❌
(5) Michigan defeats (12) UC San Diego ✅
(4) Texas A&M defeats (13) Yale ✅
(6) Ole Miss defeats (11) North Carolina ✅
(3) Iowa State defeats (14) Lipscomb ✅
(7) Marquette defeats (10) New Mexico ❌
(2) Michigan State defeats (15) Bryant ✅
Second Round
(1) Auburn defeats (8) Louisville Creighton ✅
(5) Michigan defeats (4) Texas A&M ✅
(3) Iowa State defeats (6) Ole Miss ❌
(2) Michigan State defeats (7) Marquette New Mexico ✅
Sweet 16
(1) Auburn defeats (5) Michigan
(2) Michigan State defeats (3) Iowa State
Elite 8
(1) Auburn defeats (2) Michigan State
East Region
First Round
(1) Duke defeats (16) Mount St. Mary’s ✅
(8) Mississippi State defeats (9) Baylor ❌
(5) Oregon defeats (12) Liberty ✅
(4) Arizona defeats (13) Akron ✅
(6) BYU defeats (11) VCU ✅
(3) Wisconsin defeats (14) Montana ✅
(7) Saint Mary’s defeats (10) Vanderbilt ✅
(2) Alabama defeats (15) Robert Morris ✅
Second Round
(1) Duke defeats (8) Mississippi State Baylor ✅
(4) Arizona defeats (5) Oregon ✅
(3) Wisconsin defeats (6) BYU ❌
(2) Alabama defeats (7) Saint Mary’s ✅
Sweet 16
(1) Duke defeats (4) Arizona
(2) Alabama defeats (3) Wisconsin
Elite 8
(1) Duke defeats (2) Alabama
Midwest Region
First Round
(1) Houston defeats (16) SIU Edwardsville ✅
(8) Gonzaga defeats (9) Georgia ✅
(5) Clemson defeats (12) McNeese ❌
(4) Purdue defeats (13) High Point ✅
(6) Illinois defeats (11) Texas ✅
(3) Kentucky defeats (14) Troy ✅
(7) UCLA defeats (10) Utah State ✅
(2) Tennessee defeats (15) Wofford ✅
Second Round
(1) Houston defeats (8) Gonzaga ✅
(4) Purdue defeats (5) Clemson McNeese ✅
(3) Kentucky defeats (6) Illinois ✅
(2) Tennessee defeats (7) UCLA ✅
Sweet 16
(1) Houston defeats (4) Purdue
(2) Tennessee defeats (3) Kentucky
Elite 8
(1) Houston defeats (2) Tennessee
West Region
First Round
(1) Florida defeats (16) Norfolk State ✅
(8) UConn defeats (9) Oklahoma ✅
(12) Colorado State upsets (5) Memphis ✅
(4) Maryland defeats (13) Grand Canyon ✅
(11) Drake upsets (6) Missouri ✅
(3) Texas Tech defeats (14) UNC Wilmington ✅
(10) Arkansas upsets (7) Kansas ✅
(2) Tennessee defeats (15) Wofford ✅
Second Round
(1) Florida defeats (8) UConn ✅
(12) Colorado State upsets (4) Maryland ❌
(3) Texas Tech defeats (11) Drake ✅
(10) Arkansas upsets (2) Tennessee ✅
Sweet 16
(1) Florida defeats (12) Colorado State
(3) Texas Tech defeats (10) Arkansas
Elite 8
(1) Florida defeats (3) Texas Tech
Final Four
(1S) Auburn defeats (1W) Florida
(1E) Duke defeats (1MW) Houston
National Championship
(1E) Duke defeats (1S) Auburn (74-69)
—
In the primary spherical, ChatGPT went 28 for 32 and picked a few of the large upsets, together with all three within the West area. ChatGPT had success within the second spherical too, going 14 for 16 and accurately selecting the shock Cinderella workforce for the Sweet 16 in Tenth-seeded Arkansas.
These are some last ideas that ChatGPT had for me.
Here’s the schedule for the 2025 NCAA males’s basketball match:
- First Four: March 18-19
- First spherical: March 20-21
- Second spherical: March 22-23
- Sweet 16: March 27-28
- Elite Eight: March 29-30
- Final Four: April 5
- NCAA championship sport: April 7
I used an identical ChatGPT immediate for the NCAA ladies’s basketball match
The NCAA ladies’s basketball match will not be as common as the boys’s, however there are positively swimming pools on the market, and should you’re in a single, you need to use ChatGPT, and an identical immediate to the one within the earlier part, to fill out your bracket. Although I’m not in a pool, I requested ChatGPT only for the hell of it, and that is what it gave me for the ladies’s match:
My immediate: “Fill out a whole ladies’s March Madness bracket for me, with a mixture of robust favorites, a number of calculated upsets and at the least one darkish horse workforce making a deep run. Make positive to incorporate the First Four. Use this as a information:
ChatGPT’s reply:
Note: Shortened to only last ideas.
This bracket incorporates:
- Favorites: South Carolina, UCLA, USC, UConn, Texas
- Calculated Upsets: Louisville over Arizona, UConn over Texas
- A Dark Horse: Louisville’s deep run
UCLA wins the title in a West Coast showdown towards USC!
