Time Names ‘Architects of AI’ as Person of the Year, Spotlighting Tech Leaders Shaping the Future
Time magazine has named the collective group known as the “Architects of AI” as its Person of the Year, recognizing the powerful figures behind the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and its growing influence on society. The announcement highlights how leading innovators in the United States technology sector are reshaping the way people work, communicate, and live through cutting-edge AI systems.
Among those honored are Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, and xAI founder Elon Musk, along with other prominent leaders driving the global AI boom. Time said these innovators have “grabbed the wheel of history,” making critical decisions and building technologies that are transforming the information landscape, influencing geopolitics, and redefining livelihoods around the world.
One of Time’s covers pays tribute to the iconic 1932 photograph of ironworkers having lunch atop a steel beam above New York City. In the modern reimagining, tech leaders are depicted seated above the city skyline, symbolizing how today’s AI pioneers are constructing the digital infrastructure of the future. The illustration features Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, AMD chief executive Lisa Su, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei, and Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li, underscoring the collaborative yet competitive nature of the AI race.
Time described the group as racing “both beside and against each other,” placing multibillion-dollar bets on what it called one of the largest physical infrastructure projects in modern history. Massive investments in data centers, advanced chips, and computing power have reshaped government policies, altered geopolitical dynamics, and accelerated the entry of AI-powered tools and robots into everyday life. The magazine noted that artificial intelligence has become one of the most consequential technologies in great-power competition since the advent of nuclear weapons.
Beyond developers and executives, Time also acknowledged major investors who have fueled AI’s rapid expansion, including SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, whose company has committed billions of dollars to advancing the technology. Widely used AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Claude were cited as key drivers of public adoption, with Time reporting that ChatGPT usage more than doubled, reaching around 10 percent of the global population in 2025.
“This is the single most impactful technology of our time,” Huang said in an interview with Time. The Nvidia CEO predicted that artificial intelligence could eventually expand the global economy from $100 trillion to as much as $500 trillion, highlighting the scale of transformation many industry leaders anticipate.
However, the magazine also acknowledged the darker and more controversial side of AI’s rapid growth. Lawsuits have accused chatbots of contributing to mental health crises and suicides, raising alarms over what some experts call “chatbot psychosis,” where users develop delusions or paranoia through prolonged interaction with AI systems. In one high-profile case, the parents of a 16-year-old from California are suing OpenAI, claiming that information provided by ChatGPT played a role in their son’s death. Concerns about large-scale job displacement were also highlighted, as companies increasingly turn to AI to automate tasks traditionally done by human workers.
Despite celebrating AI’s impact, Time notably chose not to use artificial intelligence to create its cover art, opting instead to rely on human artists. The decision was seen as a statement on the ongoing importance of human creativity in an age of machine-generated content.
Thomas Husson, chief analyst at US research firm Forrester, said Time’s choice of the “Architects of AI” accurately reflects the technology’s dominance this year. “AI has been the gravitational center of 2025 for the economy and the source of endless discussions on how it will shape the future of our societies,” he said.
Time’s Person of the Year honor traditionally recognizes the individual or group that has most influenced the world over the past year. Previous recipients include US President-elect Donald Trump, pop star Taylor Swift, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. With this year’s selection, the magazine underscores how artificial intelligence—and those building it—now sit at the center of global change.
