🧠 Technology & AI risk-off · 1–3 years
A what‑if from the future

What if Open-source models commoditize the AI software stack?

Capable open-weight models collapse the price of inference and erode proprietary AI-software differentiation, compressing margins for closed-model and AI-application vendors.

21%
our model probability
over 1–3 years
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 21% · 90% range 6–36% · 39 analogues · measured class tech_ai_bull 57% in 3 yr · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — tech_ai_bull ≈0.2842/yr → 57% in 3 yr57%
Analyst prior · editorial share 35% of the class20%
Pooled · weight 87%22%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)22%
Published21%

The class rate is measured from our dated, sourced event library (decade-normalized Poisson — the full table is public at base_rates.json). The variant’s share within its class is the analyst’s editorial call, published so you can audit it. A wider range means thinner precedent. Full recipe: methodology · scored at Reality Check.

The butterfly cascade

How this trigger trickles across markets, left → right — the root shock, its first‑order moves, then the ripple effects. Drag any node; tap a market for its real price history.

Resolution timeline — how this probability is moving

Our model's odds (gold) over time vs the crowd's (Polymarket, blue), from the past toward the 1–3 years horizon. Each dot is a real macro event that nudged the probability — green pushed it up, red pushed it down. Tap a dot for the source. The gold path is an illustrative reconstruction anchored to today's estimate — real dated events, not a live re-estimate history.

loading the timeline…

What it would mean

If this plays out, it is a risk-off shock. Capable open-weight models collapse the price of inference and erode proprietary AI-software differentiation, compressing margins for closed-model and AI-application vendors. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Volatility (VIX) ▲ · AI breakthrough ▲ · AI capex ▼ · Risk appetite ▼ — which propagate through our causal graph to the markets below.

If it happens — the markets it would move

Biggest moves first. Projected moves are cascade-model priors; hist A–B% = what comparable past events actually did (measured abnormal returns), and model prior · unmeasured marks markets with no analogue backing yet. Tap any market for its price history.

MarketClassProjected move
1Volatility (VIX) VIXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartVol▲ +0.3%
hist -3.08–+1.43%
2Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.3%
hist -19.93–-1.99%
3MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -3.53–+6.99%
4Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.2%
hist -0.66–+1.6%
5Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -0.2%
model prior · unmeasured
6Ether ETHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -5.39–+2.07%
7Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▲ +0.1%
hist +-0.0–+0.21%
8Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.1%
hist -0.18–+0.57%
9Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -1.12–+2.41%

Probable recommendation

If the scenario above plays out, the probable cross‑asset positioning → a scenario‑conditional read, not personalized investment advice
Cash / hedgeRaise cash and hold the long hedges above; this scenario is net risk-off.
For a common-man portfolio: A typical stock-heavy portfolio is at risk. Consider trimming equities, raising cash, and a small cash hedge.

Historical precedent — what analogous events actually did

Across 39 analogous events (overlap‑weighted), as abnormal returns — market beta stripped, so it's the event's own effect, not the market backdrop. Shown at 20 days (persistent) and 5 days (immediate); ↺ fades = the two horizons disagree. Confidence = consistency × sample × significance.

TSMC slumps as DeepSeek roils AI-chip demand assumptions 2025-02 Megacap AI-capex doubt selloff 2024-07 Neuralink implants its first human brain-computer interface 2024-01 OpenAI releases GPT-4 2023-03 ChatGPT launches 2022-11 AlphaFold cracks the protein-folding problem 2020-11 AlphaGo defeats Lee Sedol 2016-03 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 Micron's weak FQ2 guidance sparks a sharp December selloff 2024-12 ASML bookings-miss crash 2024-10 Nikkei 225 record single-day rebound 2024-08 VIX third-highest spike on record 2024-08 Trump 'Taiwan should pay for defense' chip selloff 2024-07 Nikkei 225 surpasses its 1989 bubble peak 2024-02 LK-99 room-temperature superconductor claim 2023-07 Nvidia AI-guidance blowout ignites the automation/AI capex wave 2023-05 Netflix subscriber-loss crash 2022-04 Meta 2022-02 Evergrande debt crisis - global selloff 2021-09 Didi removed from China app stores after NYSE IPO 2021-07 Wegovy 2021-06 First mRNA COVID-19 vaccine authorized 2020-12 COVID-19 fourth circuit breaker 2020-03 COVID-19 second Level-1 circuit breaker 2020-03 Worst Christmas Eve selloff on record 2018-12 He Jiankui announces CRISPR-edited babies 2018-11 Nvidia crypto-glut guidance crash 2018-11 February 2018 hot wage print triggers rate scare 2018-02 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 SpaceX lands an orbital rocket booster 2015-12 China-led global 'Black Monday' rout 2015-08 SEC approves Limit Up-Limit Down plan and revised market-wide circuit breakers 2012-05 US-downgrade Black Monday equity rout and VIX spike to 48 2011-08 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 VIX record intraday high of 89.53 2008-10 2008 global rice crisis: Thai benchmark tops $1,000/ton 2008-04 Shanghai Sneeze global selloff with then-record VIX spike 2007-02 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Cuban Missile Crisis 1962-10
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
SOL SOLSHORT-13.5% · 5d -6.7%96%21 0.62✓ matches cascade
Gold XAULONG+1.2% · 5d -0.2% ↺ fades64%37 0.24·
US dollar DXYSHORT-0.2% · 5d +0.1% ↺ fades60%38 0.16·
Volatility VIXSHORT-3.1% · 5d +0.3% ↺ fades57%38 0.11⚠ differs
ETH ETHSHORT-5.0% · 5d -5.2%57%27 0.11✓ matches cascade
Bitcoin BTCLONG+2.4% · 5d -3.0% ↺ fades55%31 0.09⚠ differs
High-yield credit HYGLONG+0.1% · 5d -0.2% ↺ fades56%36 0.09·
MSTR MSTRLONG+7.0% · 5d -0.1% ↺ fades52%37 0.03⚠ differs
SMH SMHLONG+0.5% · 5d +0.1%51%37 0.01✓ matches cascade
10y yield DGS10SHORT-5bp · 5d +1bp ↺ fades51%38 0.01·
NVDA NVDALONG+1.4% · 5d -0.5% ↺ fades48%37 0.00✓ matches cascade
NDX NDXLONG+0.1% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades45%38 0.00✓ matches cascade

Methodology. Probability and impact are anchored to history and scored against what actually happens — wins and losses, in public, at Reality Check. Crowd odds live from Polymarket & Kalshi. By Vikas Singh, Quantitative Strategist. Updated 2026-07-03.