TIME Magazine Names Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Others as ‘Architects of AI’ — 2025 Person of the Year Explained

TIME Magazine Names Musk, 7 Others as ‘Architects of AI’ for 2025 Person of the Year

TIME Magazine has announced a powerful and timely choice for its 2025 Person of the Year. Instead of honouring a single individual, the iconic publication has named the “Architects of AI” — a group of eight influential leaders who are shaping the future of artificial intelligence.

According to TIME, no other group has had a greater impact on the world in 2025 than the people building and guiding AI technologies. These leaders are not just running companies; they are directing a technological shift that is changing how people work, learn, communicate and think.

Explaining the decision, TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs said the magazine wanted to recognise the humans behind the machines. Rather than celebrating AI as a tool, TIME chose to honour the people who imagined it, designed it and brought it into everyday life.

Who Are the ‘Architects of AI’?

TIME featured eight major figures from the global AI ecosystem on its 2025 cover. The lineup includes CEOs, researchers and pioneers whose work now influences billions of people worldwide.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, leads the company whose chips power most of the world’s AI systems. His hardware has become the backbone of modern AI development.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, helped bring AI to the masses through ChatGPT, which is now used by nearly 800 million people every week.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and xAI, continues to push AI across industries, from self-driving technology to competing AI models through his company xAI.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has transformed Meta into an AI-first company, integrating AI tools across WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook.

Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, has emerged as a strong challenger in the AI chip race, offering powerful and energy-efficient alternatives to Nvidia.

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, is known for major breakthroughs in AI research, including advances in protein folding and robotics.

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, focuses on building safer and more responsible AI systems through his chatbot Claude.

Fei-Fei Li, often called the “godmother of AI,” is a pioneer in computer vision and the founder of World Labs, which aims to create more human-centred AI tools.

Why 2025 Is a Turning Point for AI

Experts say 2025 marks the year AI truly entered everyday life. People now use AI to plan trips, search for information, write documents, generate images and even cook meals — often without realising it.

However, the rapid rise of AI has also raised concerns. Critics worry about job losses, high energy consumption, unclear training data and the growing control of AI by a few big tech companies.

A Symbol of a New Era

This is not the first time TIME has honoured a group. In the past, it named “The Computer,” “You” (internet users), whistleblowers and Ebola fighters as Person of the Year. The “Architects of AI” follow that tradition, symbolising a major global shift.

As TIME summed it up, these leaders are being honoured “for delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity.” In 2025, AI is no longer the future — it is being built right now, and these architects are shaping the world we are about to live in.