The best defense to 1. e4 according to the engine

So the "best" defense according to the deepest depth engine on the Chess.com Analysis board is the French Defense (+0.16). So this means that playing the French means that you are already almost equalized. This is a very shocking discovery for me, as the French is usually considered "bad" for engines. Please tell me below why you think this is, thanks!

honestly i have no idea

I guess it depends on the engine.

Speaking as one that plays the French religiously, you cannot trust any chess.com engine!

For instance, in computer years, Stockfish 10 is about the equivalent age for a computer program to that of Bob Barker or Betty White in human years!

stockfish probably prefers the french because it beat alphazero with the french

lol

Engine evaluations at move one are of the same value as papers of the Angola Stock Exchange.

Using Stockfish 13 reveals that the new favorite is the Sicilian.

Don’t trust computers on move one.

"So this means that playing the French means that you are already almost equalized."
You can equalise with 1...e6, 1...c6, 1...e5, 1...c5 as well it does not really matter, the position is a draw with best play from both sides. The +0.16 merely reflects than white is half a tempo head = 0.5 * +0.33 = +0.16

1. I think the engine that chess.com uses is slightly outdated, the French has been destroyed by Engines recently

2. The "advantage" of playing the French as opposed to the Caro or the Sicilian, according to this engine, is miniscule. It won't directly affect the outcome of the game

I did not mean this post as saying the French is the "only" good defense...

The next time you play someone rated 3600, let me know how that works out.

it differ from engine to other for stockfish its the french for alpha zero its e5 most engines dislikes the sicilian ,,,for us all this openings are good so pick the one that you fell comfortable with 

Where did you get that calculation from?

From the generic rule that 3 tempos equal one pawn. Of course this rule has plenty of exceptions.

I haven't looked into the coding behind engines in a while so I'll have to take your word for it, but based on that logic I would have assumed white's advantage would be greater here.  After 1...e5 white is half a tempo ahead (.16), after 1...e6 I would think the engine sees black's position as having fewer desirable traits if Stockfish still follows traditional opening heuristics.  

Ah, the joy of being an engine noob. You get a cookie for that.

"Please tell me below why you think this is, thanks!"

Ummm....hundreds have already said so. But not on your thread! I have no idea myself.

I think it's important for context to say that the answer isn't so clear cut. First off, Stockfish is an engine that uses infinite analysis (at least when turned on) so it can keep searching deeper and deeper. So it's top move can always change.

Second, there are multiple variables when looking at positions with an engine.

There are factors such as depth, nodes per second, device capability, internet capability etc. You could look up the same positions on different devices and it very well could give you different responses.

Stockfish also used to have a contempt setting which could be adjusted depending on how drawish you wanted the game.

So unless you let NASA's supercomputer run analysis for a long period of time, some positions just don't have a clear answer as to what the best move is!