Predictions Report

Can the U.S. Rein in Prediction Markets? + Joanna Stern on Her Year of A.I. Experiments + Our Producer Goes to Attention School
Hard Fork · Published 2026-05-08 · Runtime 1:12:24 · 20 predictions identified

Scrubber — click a timestamp below to jump here

Now playing:
Open Hard Fork's YouTube clip (covers the prediction-markets opening only)
Hard Fork only posts segment-clips on YouTube, not the full episode. The "YT clip ↗" links open YouTube at the timestamp from the episode start — only meaningful for predictions in the prediction-markets segment.
20
Predictions
3
Speakers
3
High confidence
14
Medium
3
Speculative
Speaker:
Confidence:
TimeSpeakerPredictionTopicConfidence
Casey Newton
If users come to believe that prediction markets are rigged with insider trading, they will be dissuaded from participating, harming the markets' viability.
“...after enough of these incidents, like, you kind of have to be a sucker to participate in these markets without insider information.”
prediction markets medium
Kevin Roose
As prediction markets become more established, it's likely that they will eventually be regulated.
“I imagine that will change at some point because they don't seem like they're going away.”
regulation medium
Kevin Roose
Prediction market companies will likely lobby to remain under the jurisdiction of the smaller, less powerful CFTC rather than the SEC to avoid stricter oversight.
“I wouldn't be surprised if the prediction markets weren't lobbying to continue to be regulated by the CFTC...”
regulation medium
Casey Newton
If Supreme Court justices ever bet on the outcomes of their cases, the scandal will likely be exposed by reporting from ProPublica.
“You know what? I bet when they do, we're gonna hear about it in ProPublica.”
prediction markets speculative
Kevin Roose
The prediction market space is on a trajectory to become a massive, unregulated online casino if it continues to grow without proper oversight.
“...if it ever is, like, I imagine this is just going to become, like, a total casino.”
prediction markets medium
Casey Newton
The current trend of blanketing cities with advertisements for gambling and prediction markets will ultimately lead to negative societal outcomes.
“I don't think blanketing the world in advertisements for gambling is, like, going to lead us to a good place.”
prediction markets medium
Casey Newton
Without regulatory changes, the media will continue to report on scandals and manipulation within prediction markets.
“...what we should expect if nothing else changes is to just, you know, keep reading more stories like this.”
prediction markets high
Kevin Roose
The U.S. government will almost certainly pass regulations to stop flagrant abuses of prediction markets, especially by military and government officials, for national security reasons.
“I think I would put a high percentage, m- probability mass on that. ... I would expect, like, just for national security reasons, they will do something about that.”
regulation high
Casey Newton
While a comprehensive law might be difficult, we will probably see new rules introduced that start to rein in the prediction market industry.
“maybe we will at least see more rules and, you know, maybe those rules will, uh, begin to rein this in.”
regulation speculative
Joanna Stern
Humanoid robots will not become a common presence in people's homes in the near future.
“But gosh, like, this promise that these robots are coming to live with us, they're really not coming to live with us anytime soon.”
robotics high
Joanna Stern
Over the next few years, the public will be able to watch the technological progression of humanoid robots as companies continue to develop them.
“...I think we're gonna watch this progression over the next couple years, and I would love to be the person that's sort of documenting a little bit of this.”
robotics medium
Joanna Stern
AI-powered wearable devices will continue to improve and are on a path to becoming a mature and useful product category.
“I think the AI wearables are really getting there.”
AI hardware medium
Casey Newton
AI will increasingly be used in medical and dental fields to justify upselling patients on expensive and potentially unnecessary procedures.
“...it's gonna have this sort of fancy high-tech sheen that is going to make you th- think... when in reality it's a service you don't need and they're gonna overcharge you for it.”
AI in dentistry medium
Joanna Stern
When used for personal decision-making, AI will often act as a mirror, reflecting and reinforcing what a person already subconsciously wants.
“AI is this mirror and it's gonna tell you basically what you want, and in some ways it told me what I wanted, right?”
AI decision-making medium
Joanna Stern
The most significant societal divide regarding AI sentiment and adoption will emerge along generational lines, especially with Gen Z and younger cohorts.
“I'm really interested in the age divide... I think that's where we're gonna see it...”
AI adoption medium
Casey Newton
A broader social and technological movement is emerging to help people counteract digital distraction and reconnect with themselves.
“...we're starting to see the signs of a movement that wants to help people return to themselves.”
attention/focus medium
Kevin Roose
Tech companies like Meta will eventually create products that commodify and monitor currently private, offline activities.
“I do worry that Meta will release a surfboard with a microphone.”
tech industry speculative
Kevin Roose
In the future, many people will cope with their discomfort around technology by using simple, brute-force methods like locking their phones away.
“...and for many people, I think that's, uh, just going to be something that they deal with by, like, locking their phone in a box...”
attention/focus medium
Kevin Roose
A cultural counter-movement focused on reclaiming humanity from technology will grow in response to AI, similar to historical reactions to previous technological leaps.
“...every time we sort of make a big leap forward in technology, there's a cultural counter movement... we wanna, like, reclaim ourselves from the technology.”
attention/focus medium
Casey Newton
A new counterculture is developing that fundamentally rejects the dominant ethos of the modern tech industry.
“I think we're seeing the formation of this new kind of counterculture that just rejects it completely.”
attention/focus medium