Time Magazine Names “Architects of AI” as 2025 Person of the Year

Time magazine has chosen the “Architects of AI” as its 2025 Person of the Year, marking a moment when artificial intelligence moved firmly into the center of global public life. The magazine said this year represented a turning point — the moment the potential and consequences of AI “roared into view,” setting off both excitement and deep concern in equal measure.

For this year’s selection, Time focused not on a single individual but on the group of innovators who built the systems now shaping daily interactions, economic competition, and political priorities. The editors described the honorees as the people who “imagined, designed, and built AI,” guiding the technology from experimental labs to mainstream adoption. Their decision reflects a broader shift in how societies perceive artificial intelligence, treating it as a defining force rather than a futuristic concept.

Time has occasionally selected ideas, groups, or technologies in past decades, including the personal computer in 1982 and the endangered Earth in 1988. Editors said this year carried a similar sense of historical weight as AI reached households, workplaces, and public institutions at a scale not seen before.

The tech leaders featured on Time’s covers

To illustrate the selection, Time released multiple cover images. One of the most prominent references the iconic 1930s photograph “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper,” showing eight key AI figures perched on a steel beam suspended high above a city skyline. The image features Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, who founded World Labs in 2024 after a long career in academia.

A second cover depicts giant metallic letters spelling “AI,” surrounded by scaffolding and glowing circuitry. The visual highlights how AI development has grown into a vast ecosystem of hardware, software, data, and commercial infrastructure.

Five of the eight featured figures — Musk, Zuckerberg, Huang, Altman, and Su — are billionaires. Their combined estimated net worth stands at roughly $870 billion, according to Forbes. Much of this surge in wealth occurred during the past three years, driven by the explosion of AI model development, cloud hardware demand, and new commercial applications ranging from workplace tools to consumer-facing assistants.

A year of accelerated public adoption

Industry analysts said Time’s decision reflects how 2025 became a watershed year for AI adoption. Thomas Husson, a principal analyst at Forrester, noted that artificial intelligence shifted from “early enthusiast technology” to a tool embraced by mainstream users. Everyday tasks — from health guidance and financial planning to creative work and translation — increasingly rely on AI-powered services. That shift, Husson said, made AI impossible to ignore as a cultural and economic force.

Time also acknowledged the growing political importance of the sector. Several high-profile AI executives attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington earlier this year, signaling the technology’s expanding influence in U.S. policymaking circles. Their presence underscored the heightened role AI companies now play in debates over competition, national security, and industrial strategy.

Editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs wrote that 2025 was the year when the public saw both the speed of progress and the permanence of its impact. “There will be no turning back or opting out,” he said, describing AI’s integration into daily life as an irreversible shift.

Growing concern over safety and oversight

While the recognition celebrates innovation, it also highlights growing unease about AI’s rapid evolution. Critics warn that the race among major companies to build increasingly powerful systems could outpace the development of safeguards.

Anthony Aguirre, executive director of the Future of Life Institute, said companies are “working feverishly to replace humans in every facet of life,” raising concerns about economic displacement, ethical risks, and the erosion of human agency. Without strong guardrails, he warned, the consequences could be “catastrophic.”

These fears mirror global discussions unfolding at the United Nations, the OECD, and national governments. Many countries are now drafting rules to manage AI’s societal impact, focusing on transparency, data protection, safety testing, and fair competition.

A crowded field of contenders

Prediction markets listed AI as a top contender for the Person of the Year title, alongside Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and OpenAI’s Sam Altman individually. Several political leaders also ranked high among forecast lists. Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff selected earlier this year following the death of Pope Francis, was widely discussed. U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani were also prominent contenders.

In 2024, Time selected Trump as Person of the Year after he secured his second presidential victory. Taylor Swift held the title the previous year.

Time was acquired in 2018 by Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff, who has frequently described AI as the most transformative technological wave of his lifetime. Benioff maintains he does not participate in the magazine’s editorial decisions, including the Person of the Year selection.

The publication has named a Person of the Year annually since 1927, choosing the figure — or entity — believed to have exercised the greatest influence on that year’s global events. The 2025 choice places AI squarely in the lineage of forces that have shaped world affairs, joining a list that includes heads of state, social movements, innovators, and iconic cultural figures.

A turning point for technology and society

This year’s selection acknowledges not just the technical achievements of AI’s architects but also the broader cultural and political climate surrounding their work. The honorees represent both the power and the uncertainty of a technology that is rapidly altering how societies function. Their contributions open new possibilities for medicine, science, and education, while raising urgent questions about privacy, inequality, and the future of human labor.

As AI’s influence expands, governments, companies, and citizens face decisions that will shape its trajectory for decades. Time’s designation captures the duality of that transformation—celebrating the ingenuity behind AI while underscoring the profound choices now confronting societies around the world.