Timothy B. Lee called it:

So here’s my prediction: inflation-adjusted GDP in the third quarter of 2026 will not be more than 3.5% higher than the third quarter of 2025.

We find out by Sep 30, 2026. 40 days to go

Open

Timothy B. Lee: “So here’s my prediction: inflation-adjusted GDP in the third quarter of 2026 will not be more than 3.5% higher than the third quarter of 2025.

🔒 The test · locked Aug 22, 2026

MET if the percentage change in GDPC1 value is at or below 3.5 on the deadline date, before 2026-09-30 23:59 (America/New_York).

Settles automatically from the locked data source — no judgment call, no human vote.

The original wording did not settle the timing on its own. The reading above was chosen at registration and locked with the claim — it was not decided after the fact.

Test details
Settled byautomatic
Window2025-07-01 2026-09-30
TimezoneAmerica/New_York
Data vintagelatest_revision
Min source tier2
Stated likelihood90% — preserved, never scored
Contract hash0x5f1c2cf4…a4ad62
Full resolution criteria

Settles TRUE if US real (inflation-adjusted) GDP for 2026 Q3, per the BEA/FRED series GDPC1, is not more than 3.5% higher than 2026's Q3-2025 level — i.e. year-over-year real GDP growth for Q3 2026 is 3.5% or less. FALSE if that growth exceeds 3.5%.

Quote verified against the source

Timothy B. LeeUnderstanding AI (Substack)Said Dec 31, 2025Added to Thonest Aug 22, 2026Anchored Aug 22, 2026

Added by Thonest from a public source. The person quoted did not submit, approve, or endorse this record; the wording is verified against the source itself.

Read the original on understandingai.org

Prediction #4 (90% confidence), framed as a test of whether an AI-driven 'fast takeoff' is visible in US macroeconomic data.

History — append-only

2026-08-22
Recorded · Recorded and locked from the original source

Proof

Evidence hash0xb0f4d788…8c001a
Source snapshot
Record fingerprint0xb0f4d788597d812cef08e75df363e85e16eed54582918431d5014f7dd88c001a
Proof path
2 hashes from this record to the anchored root
  1. 0x8eb191d9b56624dda0470aee659f4ba7dcb9b7724b1519a8765ebe69369833b0
  2. 0xafc0949ee774e64666801dfd699880270cf0c7f37ae262355afd683438e33c68
Merkle root0xbd3bd79f328bc3040040a39789a69ea374e00609a090da26012cda8f7964b57c
batch #53 manifest · 4 entries
Registry0x3d74d9e2f0f4c741fc49b34cc119b6db0cef47c0 · entry #52
the contract refuses any batch that doesn’t follow the previous one, and has no function to edit or delete one — including for us
Anchored onchainbase-mainnet · Aug 22, 2026
0xf0918ad5…41bb03 on block explorer
Quote checkThe quote appears verbatim in the response the platform returned.
Platform capture0x37ac879c6c6432e08ae969fb4167723bf78da72a530432df8efbd4c2434546e2
view the canonical capture · the page as served to us, kept verbatim and covered by the evidence hash

✓ The anchored proof cannot be rewritten, and the published record is append-only by default. Everything that happened afterward is in the history above — corrections are appended, never silently edited in.

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Related

US real GDPAI 2027United States