Also see this question, for Jan 1 2025.

In the future, it might be possible for general-purpose forecasting platforms to accept functions as forecasts. Question writers would provide function definitions, and forecasters would provide programmatic functions.

This workflow would be significantly more complicated than current forecasting platform workflows, but it could be far more scalable and general.

There are some platforms like Kaggle that might have arguably done this for very limited domains and uses. However, forecasting platforms like Manifold/Metaculus/Prediction Markets are much more general-purpose and have a different workflow.

Definitions "Popular Forecasting platform" A forecasting website, like Manifold/Metaculus/Kalshi. It must have at least 100 unique users per month to qualify.

"Function definitions as forecasting questions" A question writer can propose a fairly-arbitrary function definition. For example, "For any time T from 2024 to 2030, and any stock ticker name, predict the company valuation". (time: [2024 to 2030], tickerName: string) => distribution

Forecasters would forecast by uploading programming functions or providing API endpoints that would call programming functions.