9-6: Human NFL Analyst Extends Lead Over GPT Into Week 4

A human handicapper's season-long wager against an artificial-intelligence model built on GPT now stands at 9-6 for the analyst and 5-10 for the machine, according to an Oct. 3 column by Dan Zaksheske published on Fox News' OutKick site. The gap widened after Zaksheske, who writes as "Dan Z," went 4-1 on his Week 3 card, and it sets the stage for five new wagers he is making for Week 4 of the National Football League season, three of which involve the Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints, per the same report.

The 9-6 Record Against GPT's 5-10 Mark

Zaksheske's column frames the comparison as a running scoreboard between his own handicapping and picks generated by a GPT-based model, with both sides graded against the same slate of games each week, OutKick reported. Entering Week 4, the human side of the ledger sits at 9-6 while the AI model trails at 5-10, a four-game swing that Zaksheske's piece attributes directly to his 4-1 showing in Week 3. The column does not break down which specific Week 3 games produced the wins and losses beyond the overall tally, so the exact matchups behind that 4-1 mark are not detailed in the source material.

Bengals, Dolphins and Saints Make the Week 4 Slate

For Week 4, Zaksheske locks in five bets, and the Bengals, Dolphins and Saints are named among the teams involved in those selections, according to OutKick. The column does not specify the exact point spreads, totals or moneyline prices attached to each pick, nor the opponents those three teams are facing in the wagers Zaksheske is backing. What the report does establish is that the five-bet card for Week 4 follows the same format as prior weeks, in which Zaksheske stakes his own analysis against the AI model's output on an overlapping set of games.

Two Picks Where Human and Machine Split

Of the five Week 4 selections, two put Zaksheske's picks in direct conflict with GPT's own call on the same game, OutKick's report states. That means the outcome of those two contests will move one side's record up and the other's down by identical margins, tightening or widening the current 9-6 to 5-10 split depending on how the games play out. The column identifies that two of the five bets qualify as head-to-head disagreements but does not name which two games carry that distinction beyond the general description, so the specific teams in those particular split picks are not detailed in the available material.

A 4-1 Week 3 Set Up the Current Lead

The four-game cushion Zaksheske now holds traces to his Week 3 performance, when he finished 4-1 on his card, according to the OutKick column. That result followed whatever record he carried into Week 3, though the piece frames the current 9-6 mark as the cumulative total rather than detailing the week-by-week progression before that point. The 5-10 mark attributed to the GPT model in the same report reflects the AI's cumulative results over the same stretch, without a separate Week 3 breakdown for the machine's picks provided in the source.

Why Outlets Are Testing AI Against Human Handicappers

The format Zaksheske runs each week, pitting his own game-by-game analysis against output from a GPT-based model, mirrors a broader trend of sports outlets running human-versus-AI prediction contests as a recurring feature rather than a one-off experiment, based on the structure described in the OutKick piece. The appeal for readers is straightforward: a weekly scoreboard offers a simple way to track whether a seasoned handicapper's judgment holds an edge over an automated model working from the same public data, game after game. Through three weeks of the comparison, the gap favors the human side by four games, 9-6 to 5-10, according to OutKick's reporting, though a single swing week — like the two head-to-head picks set for Week 4 — could narrow or widen that margin before the season reaches its midpoint.

The full Week 4 picks, including the specific lines Zaksheske is backing on the Bengals, Dolphins and Saints games, are detailed in his original column at OutKick.