Kalshi users are in an uproar over their Time ‘Person of the Year’ bets

Time magazine has named the “Architects of AI” as its 2025 Person of the Year, a decision that has sparked significant backlash from gamblers who lost out on semantics.

The companies behind AI tools and infrastructure aren’t “AI” in the literal sense, so prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket ruled that anyone betting on “AI” doesn’t win. As author Parker Molloy pointed out on Bluesky, gamblers on the site are not pleased. 

“Someone please explain to me how this is not a trick?” one user complained after betting on billionaire Elon Musk on Kalshi. “Person of the year is a singular title…”

“ThE aRcHiTeCtS oF AI,” another user wrote. “Fuck you pay me.”

Others remained insistent that the platform owes them a payout. “This pretty clearly should’ve resolved to yes,” one user wrote. “If you bought AI, reach out to Kalshi support because ‘AI’ is literally on the cover and in the title ‘Architects of AI.’”

On Kalshi, anyone who bet on any of the “Architects of AI”—including Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg, Lisa Su, and Demis Hassabis—still won the bet. Those who bet their products, however, did not. 

Polymarket explained the decision in a note. “This market is about the person/thing named as TIME’s Person of the Year for 2025, not what is depicted on the cover. Per the rules, “If the Person of the Year is ‘Donald The President and the MAGA movement,’ this would qualify to resolve this market to ‘The President.’ However if the Person of the Year is ‘The MAGA movement,’ this would not qualify to resolve this market to ‘The President’ regardless of whether The President is depicted on the cover,” it said.

“Accordingly, a Time cover which lists ‘Architects of AI’ as the person of the year will not qualify for ‘AI’ even if the letters ‘AI’ are depicted on the cover, as AI itself is not specifically named.”

People spent more than $19 million betting on the Time Person of the Year on Kalshi and more than $55 million betting on the Time Person of the Year on Polymarket. “I can’t believe an unregulated gambling market let people bet frivolously and then took all their money,” one Bluesky user mused.

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