A computer program that predicts sports results could put tipsters out of work.

Artificially Intelligent Tipster is a spin-off from a project on handwriting recognition systems.

But instead of analysing shape and pressure of handwriting, the software analyses features of a team's performance and works out the likelihood of them winning.

The program is the work of Alan McCabe, a researcher at James Cook University in Northern Queensland, Australia.

Objective

According to Mr McCabe, it has achieved a 66% success rate in predicting Australian rugby league results.

The system learns which combination of statistics creates a winning team based entirely on objective data, he told the New Scientist.

Current form and points scored in games each week are fed into the system.

It does not take account of subjective information such as whether star players are involved in games.

This is the type of information that human tipsters would take into account, but so far their artificial intelligence equivalent is outscoring them.

The system could be adapted for football, baseball, cricket or any other team game.

The Artificial Intelligent Tipster was unveiled at an AI conference in Canberra last week.