Bing’s crystal ball wasn’t working so well this year as Microsoft’s prediction engine slipped a little in terms of the number of Oscar winners it correctly predicted.
The Academy Awards on Sunday provided the typical mix of stuffy formality and celebrity star gazing, but how did Bing get on when trying to predict which movies and movie stars would be victorious?
Well, the search engine managed to nail 17 out of 24 correct winners, which amounted to a 71% success rate.
However, despite doing well, last year Bing was even hotter at predicting who would win a golden statue, getting 20 out of 24 winners. In 2014 it was even better, with 21 out of 24.
For the 2016 ceremony, Bing correctly predicted most of the big awards, but we could argue that most of the major categories were almost nailed on this year.
When it came to surprises, Bing was less than successful, with the Best Picture award a good case in point. The award was claimed by “Spotlight” in an upset considering the favored movies for the category was “The Revenant,” which was also the prediction choice.
Bing has also predicted Sylvester Stallone would win Best Supporting Actor, an award that ultimately went to unfancied Mark Rylance. The engine also predicted that “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” would win visual effects (surely a dead cert), but it was actually won by “Ex Machina”.
Microsoft will be relatively happy that Bing did well, and while this is an obvious bit of fun, it is a chance for the company to test its engines and the power of its search. Next up is the engine being used to predict tomorrow’s Super Tuesday votes in the political caucuses, where Bing is predicting Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton will be big winners.
SOURCE: Microsoft Bing
