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Mia Sato

Mia Sato

Features Writer, The Verge

Features Writer, The Verge

    More From Mia Sato

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Sports traders were the most active on Polymarket, Pew finds.

    A typical account on the prediction market platform also tended to primarily bet on a single topic, according to research from Pew. Sports are huge categories for both Polymarket and its competitor, Kalshi.

    Over the last few years, the two companies have sought to differentiate themselves from traditional sports betting — and have tried to undercut one another as they fight for market share in the US.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    ChatGPT is now citing Kalshi data.

    OpenAI and the prediction market have a deal, The New York Times reports, that pulls in Kalshi data for World Cup-related queries. A prompt for “France and Spain,” for example, included a win forecast attributed to Kalshi.

    Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are everywhere right now, and that’s by design. The companies have inked deals with news outlets, newsletter writers, and random X accounts — and now Kalshi will reach potential customers via chatbots.

    A ChatGPT prompt for “France and Spain,” where the answer cites Kalshi.
    Image: OpenAI
    What is Partiful selling?

    Its founders insist the event platform offers a simple service for free. But in a time when users are aware of privacy and surveillance, Partiful has to prove it’s not too good to be true.

    Mia Sato
    The Verge’s annual summer ‘in’ and ‘out’ list

    What’s in, what’s out, and what’s a bit of both this summer.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Kalta? Melshi?

    Before plans to spin up its own prediction market app, Meta explored acquiring Kalshi, NPR reports. Meta is now reportedly working on an app known as “Arena” internally, which would allow users to bet with points rather than real money, as Kalshi and Polymarket do. If an acquisition had happened, it wouldn’t be the first (or second, or third) time Meta piggybacked on what was trendy.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Today’s Vergecast: Tim Heidecker on the return of InfoWars.

    After more than a year and a half in court, satirical news site The Onion is rebooting Alex Jones’ InfoWars — even as the conspiracy channel hangs in legal limbo. Comedian and writer Tim Heidecker has been tapped as creative director, and he came on the show to share his vision for the platform. Also mentioned: peptides, The Beatles, and the state of Tim’s vocal chords. Enjoy!

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Those DoorDash and T-Pain World Cup tweets were a “partnership.”

    Over the weekend, the DoorDash X account posted repeatedly about the World Cup, but instead of tagging New Zealand soccer player Tim Payne, the account tagged musician T-Pain — who responded accordingly. The posts had no indication that they were an ad (as the Federal Trade Commission requires).

    I asked DoorDash if this was a coordinated effort and whether T-Pain was paid for his posts. Head of social Zaria Parvez said in an email that the company noticed Payne was a fan favorite and happened to share a nearly identical name with T-Pain. “So, in partnership with T-Pain, we executed a fun campaign to connect fans from around the world and remind people that DoorDash has whatever they need throughout the World Cup.”