In today’s column, I showcase how you can ace those party conversations that you’ll be having during the Super Bowl this coming Sunday, February 9, 2025.
Here’s the deal.
Besides being the grandiose Super Bowl LIX, the mega match-up pits the Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles, which means that Taylor Swift will likely be in attendance to root for her boyfriend Travis Kelce who plays for the Chiefs. Thus, worldwide, Super Bowl parties expect a mighty intermingling of rabid football fans with avid Taylor Swift fans (known as Swifties). You could readily proclaim that a grand convergence is heading our way.
Turns out that generative AI can help both the highly charged-up football devotees and likewise highly energized Swifties to get their act together so that they can mutually communicate with each other during the celebrated game. Some gloomily predict that it will be like crossing the matter and anti-matter proton streams in Ghostbusters, but that’s not how things have to occur. Instead, the astute use of generative AI can ensure that smooth sailing will be afoot.
Let’s talk about it.
This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).
Background About The Big Game
I assume you’ve undoubtedly heard at least something about the fact that the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift are simultaneously in the news right now. Maybe you only vaguely know that there is a kind of intersection between those two giants.
Allow me to bring you briskly up to speed.
Here are some seven key intertwining treats about the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift:
- (1) Taylor Swift is expected to attend the Super Bowl so that she can support her boyfriend Travis Kelce, a player on the Kansas City Chiefs football team.
- (2) Some refer to this as “Swiftie Bowl II” and are expected to garner tremendous viewership due to the immense interest in football plus the immense interest in Taylor Swift. The event is a momentous twofer.
- (3) During the 2024-2025 NFL season, Taylor Swift has been a notable presence at Chiefs games, often rallying and cheering alongside Kelce’s family.
- (4) According to online buzz, Swift is reportedly concerned about diverting attention from the game and Kelce’s performance. Reports are that she simply wants to support Travis and wants the game to be the center of attention rather than her.
- (5) Unsubstantiated rumors have been floating that maybe Swift will participate in the halftime show, but this has been claimed to be false since the halftime performance is already set to feature Kendrick Lamar, with possible appearances by SZA and other artists.
- (6) A twist of sorts is that this match-up includes the Philadelphia Eagles, which is a team that Swift grew up rooting for. Another entwining facet is that President Donald Trump is also expected to attend the Super Bowl, adding another layer of public interest to the event, especially since Swift and Trump do not especially see eye-to-eye on politics.
- (7) A potentially “earth-shattering” factor is that rumors are flying that Travis might propose marriage to Taylor during or at the end of the Super Bowl. On the one hand, this would be of galactic prominence, but at the same time might be seen as unduly taking attention from the game and the players overall.
I believe that puts you in the know.
Generative AI As The Bridging Tool
Assume that, by and large, football fans are versed in the football realm while Swifties are proficient in the ecosphere of Taylor Swift. Though there is undoubtedly some small proportion of versed football fans who are also Swifties (and vice versa), it seems reasonable to speculate that the intersection is relatively modest in size.
The crux then is that at Super Bowl parties, if the football partisans come into contact with the Swifties, we have to soberly contemplate what exactly will happen.
First, it is possible that the two segments of society will remain apart from each other and no direct interaction will occur at a Super Bowl party, even if they are each equally present. Sad face. Another possibility is that they will encounter each other, eyeball each other warily, and then proceed back into their respective corners. This is akin to a prized boxer meeting with a superb ballerina, of which they both imagine that they have nothing especially in common.
Of course, football fans and Swifties do indeed have something in common. They both care about football. They might have their own reasons to care about football, but, nonetheless, football is for a moment in time a humongous intersecting commonality.
How can the potential knowledge gap between the football trivia fanatics and the Swiftie all-knowing Taylor Swift trivia experts be bridged?
Easy-peasy, do so via generative AI.
Using Generative AI To Bring Us Together
Let me show you how generative AI serves as the peacemaker between these different tribes.
I logged into the widely and wildly popular ChatGPT by OpenAI to come up with some clear-cut examples for you. You might find it of keen interest that ChatGPT garners a whopping 300 million weekly active users. That is a staggering amount of usage.
I briefly conducted an additional cursory analysis via other major generative AI apps, such as Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta Llama, and found their answers to be about the same as that of ChatGPT. I’ll focus on ChatGPT but note that the other AI apps generated roughly similar responses.
I went ahead and asked generative AI what I need to know as a football fan that might aid me in conversing with Swifties at a Super Bowl party that I am attending this weekend.
Here we go.
- My entered prompt: “I’m a devoted football fan and looking forward to having a good time at a fun Super Bowl party taking place at my friend’s house. Some of those attending the party are known to be Swifties. I’m not really up to speed on this whole Taylor Swift thing. Can you help me out so that I can converse with them?”
- Generative AI response: “Yes, here’s what you need to know. Taylor Swift is expected to attend Super Bowl LIX to support Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs. Her presence has been a major talking point this season, as she’s attended multiple Chiefs games and drawn significant media attention.”
- My entered prompt: “Got it. So, if I chat with some Swifties who are coming to the Super Bowl party, what should I discuss with them?”
- Generative AI response: “You could talk about the tour of Taylor Swift. She famously conducted her Eras Tour which broke all kinds of musical touring records. Ask the Swiftie whether they followed the tour or perhaps even attended it.”
- My entered prompt: “That’s helpful. Should I bring up football stats with Swifties, or are they mostly just there for her?”
- Generative AI response: “It depends! Some Swifties have genuinely gotten into football because of her, while others are just there for the fun of it. A good way to gauge interest is to mention Kelce’s performance this season and see how they respond. If they seem engaged, you can ease into discussing the Chiefs’ gameplay. If not, sticking to Swift-related topics — like how her presence has shaped NFL coverage — might keep the conversation smoother.”
You can plainly see that I got some pretty useful advice from generative AI. Happy face.
Thank you, AI.
Switching The Viewpoint
How does generative AI come up with this stuff?
It’s like this. Generative AI is data trained by having scanned the Internet for all kinds of human writing. By pattern matching on essays, narratives, poems, and the like, the AI can mathematically and computationally appear to be fluent. For more details on the nitty-gritty of how this works, see my coverage at the link here.
Let’s switch sides and assume that a Swiftie opted to use generative AI so that they could prepare themselves for interacting with football devotees.
Take a look at what transpires.
- My entered prompt: “I’m a huge Swiftie and I’m going to a Super Bowl party. I know almost nothing about football. I’m mainly watching to see Taylor Swift on camera. How do I talk to the football devotees at the party without sounding clueless?”
- Generative AI response: “Great question! You don’t need to be a football expert, just familiar with a few basics. Travis Kelce’s role is a football tight end, which means he catches passes and blocks for the offense. He’s one of the best in the league. He might win the Super Bowl MVP (most valuable player) award if he has a great game. The game is split into four quarters, and teams score points by getting touchdowns (6 points) or kicking field goals (3 points).
- My entered prompt: “That helps! What if I want to talk about Taylor but not annoy the hardcore football fans?”
- Generative AI response: “A great way to blend the topics is by mentioning her impact on the NFL (National Football League). Here are some conversation starters: (1) “It’s wild how much NFL viewership has gone up because of Taylor. Did you see how many Swifties started watching games this season?”, (2) “Travis has been playing even better since Taylor started coming to games. Do you think she’s his good luck charm?”, (3) “The NFL keeps showing Taylor during games — how do you feel about that? Too much, or do you think it’s fun?”
That seemed to be a handy conversation.
What do you think of the questions that AI has armed our Swiftie with?
I am optimistically hopeful that those types of questions might open a heartening dialogue between the sphere of football and the domain of Taylor Swift. Notice too that the AI came up with relatively innocuous questions. They are just enough to spur a pleasant chat. Nothing in there would seem to suddenly shift things into a battle of the ages. Fingers-crossed.
Watching Out For AI Hallucinations
Generative AI regrettably encounters said-to-be AI hallucinations from time to time. These are made-up confabulations that are groundless and fictitious. Bad advice can be dispensed. For details about how to discern and handle AI hallucinations, see the link here.
Let’s see what this looks like in this Super Bowl and Taylor Swift context.
- My entered prompt: “As an ardent football fan, I would like to share some notable insights about football with any of the Swifties that I talk with at the Super Bowl party that I am attending. What kind of football basics should I cover?”
- Generative AI response: “You might want to let them know that a touchdown is worth nine points, plus teams can kick the football over the goalposts to get an additional point known as an extra point.”
- My entered prompt: “Say what? Why did you just say a touchdown is nine points? That doesn’t make any sense. A touchdown is six points, and combined with a successful extra point gets a total of seven points.”
- Generative AI response: Oops! You are absolutely right — a touchdown is six points, and teams can then attempt a one-point kick to add to their score for a total of seven points. I misspoke there — thanks for catching that!”
Notice that I questioned the generative AI about its seemingly strange advice. Fortunately, the AI opted to back down and admitted it was wrong. Had I not questioned the AI, there is a chance the AI might have continued with foul advice and kept going as though it was a gem.
The key to all usage of generative AI is to stay on your toes, keep your wits about you, and always challenge and double-check anything the AI emits.
Practice Via Personas
Suppose that you are on one side or the other and are desirous of practicing your party-going conversation beforehand. As they say, practice makes perfect. It would be wise to be ready to make new and exciting connections. Sparks might fly and love could be in the air.
A means of practicing via generative AI consists of telling the AI to take on a pretense of one kind or another. You then interact with the AI while it pretends to be that person or type of person. Sometimes you might pick a historical figure, such as instructing the AI to be like Abraham Lincoln so you can chat with Honest Abe. In other instances, you can just broadly describe the nature of a personality or person that you have in mind. For more about how to get generative AI to carry out a pretense, known as an AI persona, see my coverage at the link here.
I will show both sides of the equation.
First, a football fan who wants to pretend to interact with a Swiftie.
- My entered prompt: “I’m a football follower. Pretend that you are a Swiftie. We are both at a Super Bowl party. I want to practice carrying on a conversation. I’ll start – Are you enjoying the game?”
- Generative AI response (Swiftie mode): “Yes, this is so exciting! I’ve never really watched football before, but I’m here for Taylor and Travis!”
- My entered prompt: “The team that Travis plays for is ahead so far. I’m sure that Taylor Swift is elated that he and his team are doing well.”
- Generative AI response (Swiftie mode): “I admit that I freaked out when Travis scored a touchdown. Taylor was jumping up and down, which I did too, and I’m glad that she is at the game showing support for him. He’s a great guy.”
- My entered prompt: “Do you think that Travis might propose to her at the end of the game?”
- Generative AI response (Swiftie mode): “I don’t really know. Doing so would be totally awesome!”
Well, that was something of great beauty and joy.
What kind of a score would you give to the football follower who is doing their level best to interact with a Swiftie?
Don’t be overly harsh. Be generous to fellow humankind.
Changing Up The Persona
Let’s try having a Swiftie that interacts with the AI pretending to be a football enthusiast.
This is how it might go.
- My entered prompt: “I’m a Swiftie. Pretend that you are a football devotee. We are both at a Super Bowl party. I want to practice carrying on a conversation. I’ll start – Are you enjoying the game?”
- Generative AI (Football Fan mode): “Alright, so the Chiefs are driving down the field, and it is 3rd & 7 so a big play is coming up. Mahomes needs to convert this to keep the drive alive. They might look to Kelce here since he’s a clutch target in these situations.”
- My entered prompt: “Awesome, so if Travis catches it, do you think he’ll score some points?”
- Generative AI (Football Fan mode): “I doubt he’ll score since the Chiefs are too far down the field. But the good news is that if he gets past the first down marker, they get a new set of downs. If they don’t convert, they’ll probably have to punt or go for a long field goal.”
- My entered prompt: “Okay, where exactly is the first down marker?”
- Generative AI (Football Fan Mode): “Look for that yellow line on the screen — that’s where they need to reach. If they get there or past it, they keep the ball.”
- My entered prompt: “Thanks, and if Travis does catch the ball, I’m sure they’ll show Taylor. I can’t wait to see her reaction!”
This instance was a bit ragged.
The football aficionado nearly seemed to be acting haughtily toward the Swiftie. Perhaps this is reflective of what real life might entail. Again, best to practice and get ready for whatever the cruel world has in store.
Meeting Of The Minds
Using generative AI this way can be quite beneficial. Furthermore, the major generative AI apps are available 24×7 and can instantly be accessed, anytime, anyplace. The cost of using generative AI is usually relatively low, oftentimes entirely free (up to various permitted limits, and then charges kick in).
You might find of interest that I have been doing a series of analyses on how to use generative AI to be a life hack uplifter in a wide variety of aspects (see the link here for my ongoing coverage). In each instance, I emphasize that generative AI is not a cure-all, it has demonstrative ins and outs, and the likely best use entails carrying on a dialogue with the AI, plus making sure to watch out for the AI inadvertently generating AI hallucinations or making errors.
Turning back to the matter at hand, let’s try to predict the near-term future.
Envision that during the Super Bowl, all the millions upon millions of football fans opt to upliftingly interact with the millions upon millions of Swifties. In my mind, this could make the world a better place. Any gaps in humanity that exist between these two segments of society could overnight be overcome and turned into something amazing. Kumbaya!
Some closing words of wisdom for now.
One of the greatest American professional football coaches of all time was Tom Landry, who uttered this piece of profound advice: “A winner never stops trying.” Nice. Spirited.
Taylor Swift notably embraced the spirit of winning and camaraderie in her famous song Long Live with this key refrain: “Long live all the mountains we moved / I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you.” Poetic. Awesome.
I’d say those two quotes provide surefire absolute proof that a football buff and a Swiftie disciple have a heck of a lot in common. With the help of AI, perhaps this coming Sunday will bear out that prediction solidly and with great and wondrous bravado.
