Generative AI has paved the way for the professional football field.
Laura HarveyThe head coach of Seattle Reign FC, said this week that ChatGPT helped him come up with a new defensive strategy.
speaking on Suggestive PodcastHarvey said he was curious if ChatGPT could answer questions about soccer. So he started asking OpenAI’s chatbot about his team.
First, he asked the broad question, “What is the identity of the Seattle Monarchy?” He didn’t really like the answer.
But then he asked: “What formation do you have to play to beat an NWSL team?”
It then lists every team in a women’s soccer professional league with a proposed formation. And for two teams, it suggested the “back-five”, a defensive setup using five players in the backline.
Harvey said he was not very familiar with the technique and had not used it as a coach.
He took the AI suggestion to his staff and took a deep dive on potential changes.
“We loved it,” Harvey said. And it worked – we won the game.”
ChatGPT as a soccer advisor
Harvey, a three-time NWSL coach of the year, did not reveal the opponents but said they were “really good”. Now the team uses the formation as an option during matches. The Reigns improved from last season and finished fourth in the NWSL heading into the playoffs.
This is an interesting example of using AI as a strategic advisor, combining human expertise and intuition with machine advice.
“It didn’t tell you how to play it, what to do with it or any of that stuff,” Harvey said on the podcast. “But it was like, ‘That’s what we’re going to do.’ And I was like, ‘Hmm, interesting.’ And that’s what inspired me to watch it. So I really saw it.”
Across industries, professionals are treating tools like ChatGPT as sounding boards — they can run ideas, explore scenarios or stress-test techniques before making decisions.
OpenAI’s own Research This year has seen people increasingly rely on ChatGPT “as an advisor rather than just to get things done.”
“ChatGPT likely improves worker output by providing decision support, which is especially important in knowledge-intensive jobs where productivity increases with the quality of decision-making,” according to Research.