- Time's person of the year winner will soon be announced, but it might not be a "person" at all.
- Bettors on Polymarket and Kalshi think AI will beat prominent figures like Jensen Huang and Sam Altman.
- In 1982, Time named the personal computer "Machine of the Year."
Time Magazine is getting ready to announce its Person of the Year for 2025, and prediction markets have an interesting idea about who—or, more accurately, what—might win the award.
Online bettors on Polymarket and Kalshi don't think high-profile figures like Sam Altman or Jensen Huang will receive the honor, but instead believe it will go to the technology they're helping create—AI.
Kalshi shows 55% for AI to get the award, while Polymarket shows the odds at 47%. Huang, Altman, and Pope Leo XIV are among the other top names on both sites.
A Kalshi spokesperson pointed out that a non-human winner of Time's award wouldn't be unprecedented.
"I believe the reason that we listed 'AI' as an option in the first place is because there is historical precedent for non-humans winning 'Person of the Year,'" the spokesperson told Business Insider. "In 1982, the computer won, in 1988, the endangered earth won, and there have been multiple non-human non-objects that have won, such as the 'Spirit of Ukraine' in 2022."
It should be noted that in 1982, Time actually broke tradition and named the personal computer the "Machine of the Year."
That year marked a watershed moment in technological advancement, primarily due to the launch of the Commodore 64 and IBM's progress in personal computing. Similarly, 2025 has seen the widespread adoption of AI technology, which has already transformed culture in the three years since ChatGPT debuted in 2022.
Kalshi lists ChatGPT among the other Person of the Year candidates, although the platform currently indicates that its odds of winning are only 6%. The chatbot isn't listed among Polymarket's betting options.
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