The 鈥淎rchitects of AI鈥� were named Time’s person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of 鈥渞oared into view鈥� with no turning back.
鈥淔or delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity, for transforming the present and transcending the possible, the Architects of AI are TIME鈥檚 2025 Person of the Year,鈥� Time said in a social media post.
The magazine was deliberate in selecting people 鈥� the 鈥渋ndividuals who imagined, designed, and built AI鈥� 鈥� rather than the technology itself, though there would have been some precedent for that.
鈥淲e鈥檝e named not just individuals but also groups, more women than our founders could have imagined (though still not enough), and, on rare occasions, a concept: the endangered Earth, in 1988, or the personal computer, in 1982,鈥� wrote Sam Jacobs, the editor-in-chief, in an explanation of the choice. 鈥淭he drama surrounding the selection of the PC over Apple鈥檚 Steve Jobs later became the stuff of books and a movie.鈥�
One of resembling the 鈥淟unch Atop a Skyscraper鈥� photograph from the 1930s shows eight tech leaders sitting on the beam: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the CEO of Google鈥檚 DeepMind division Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, who launched her own startup World Labs last year.
Another cover image shows scaffolding surrounding the giant letters 鈥淎I鈥� made to look like computer componentry.
Five of the eight people selected 鈥� Musk, Zuckerberg, Huang, Altman and Su 鈥� are already billionaires with a collective fortune of $870 billion, based on the latest estimates compiled by Forbes magazine. Much of the wealth has been accumulated during the past three years of AI fever.
It made sense for Time to anoint AI because 2025 was the year that it shifted from 鈥渁 novel technology explored by early adopters to one where a critical mass of consumers see it as part of their mainstream lives,鈥� Thomas Husson, principal analyst at research firm Forrester, said by email.
The magazine noted AI company CEOs’ attendance at this year at the Capitol as a herald for the prominence of the sector.
鈥淭his was the year when artificial intelligence鈥檚 full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back or opting out,鈥� Jacobs wrote.
Some experts expressed caution over the AI boom and the race to develop increasingly powerful systems.
鈥淟eading AI companies are working feverishly to replace humans in every facet of life, and they鈥檙e not being shy about it,鈥� said Anthony Aguirre, executive director of the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, which works on AI safety issues. 鈥淭he impact on our society could be catastrophic if there are no guardrails protecting what鈥檚 human, and most important to us.鈥�
AI was a leading contender for the top slot, according to prediction markets, along with Huang and Altman. Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope whose election this year followed the death of Pope Francis, was also considered a contender, with Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani topping lists as well.
After winning his second bid for the White House, 2024’s person of the year by the magazine, succeeding Taylor Swift, who was the .
The magazine by in 2018. Benioff, one of the co-founders of cloud-computing firm Salesforce, has called AI 鈥減robably the most important鈥� technological wave of his lifetime. He has repeatedly said he doesn’t get involved in Time’s editorial decisions.
The magazine’s selection dates from 1927, when its editors have picked the person they say most shaped headlines over the previous 12 months.
___
Associated Press writers Matt O’Brien in Cupertino, California, Kelvin Chan in London, and Michael Liedtke in San Ramon, California, contributed to this article.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
