14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s latest AI project aligns perfectly with the debut of EURO 2016, as it’s supposed to guess your favorite team at the tournament based simply on a picture of you.
The so-called What-Fan.net web app requires users to upload a photo and then let it do its magic - it analyzes a series of factors that are then used to determine the team that you’re the most likely to support in its way through the finals of EURO 2016.
Unfortunately, however, it’s not always accurate, and in my case, although I’m a big fan of the national team of Romania (obviously), it said that my favorite team was England.
The second attempt pointed me to Ukraine, which is a bit more accurate, but only geographically, while the third claimed that Switzerland must be my favorite team. Once again, this is way off because Romania is actually playing against Switzerland in Group A at EUROs, so there’s no chance I could ever hope they win.
Out of guesses
In the end, the service claimed that it was “out of guesses” and prompted me to choose my team, a choice that is supposedly meant to help it become more accurate for other users.
Before you ask, no, your photo isn’t stored on Microsoft’s servers, as the company learned from its past mistakes when such information wasn’t clearly mentioned on its website, and it got accused of actually collecting pictures of users who wanted to try its machine learning services.
At this point, the What-Fan.net service is only available in the browser, but depending on its success, dedicated mobile apps could also be released. Of course, given the fact that it’s specifically tailored for this month’s EURO 2016, it will be less useful when the tournament comes to an end.
Give it a try right now and let us know in the comment box below if it actually guessed what team you’re a fan of.