Will AI cause a financial crash within a decade? (By Oct 2032)

Question

As per Business Insider, SEC Chariman Gary Gensler says this is 'nearly unavoidable.'

"I do think we will in the future have a financial crisis . . .[and] in the after action reports people will say 'Aha! There was either one data aggregator or one model . . . we've relied on.' Maybe it's in the mortgage market. Maybe it's in some sector of the equity market," he said.

I figured it would be fun to see how likely we actually think it is. Note that the 'models go haywire' scenario is not required, only that AI be to blame in some way.

This resolves to YES if there is a period of one month during which the stock market (S&P 500) declines in nominal terms by 20% or more between market closes AND that decline is generally attributed to AI (e.g. Wikipedia says this, or whatever passes for consensus authority by 2032, I will use best judgment).

This resolve to NO if that does not happen.

This market can only resolve early if the event happens.

Manifold Markets · Answer

Likely — Manifold Markets prediction market estimates a 65% chance (58 traders, as of Mar 5, 2026).