AI Architects Named ‘Persons of the Year’ by Time

Time named AI architects 'Persons of the Year', highlighting their revolutionary impact.

Time magazine has named the architects of artificial intelligence as ‘Persons of the Year’, highlighting their ability to usher in an era of ‘thinking machines’ through revolutionary technologies.

2025 was the year when artificial intelligence’s full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back.

For delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity, for transforming the present and transcending the… pic.twitter.com/mEIKRiZfLo

— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2025

“Person of the Year is a powerful way to draw the world’s attention to the people who shape our lives. And this year, no one has had a greater impact than those who conceived, developed, and built artificial intelligence,” wrote Time’s editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs.

He described the architects as those who “both amaze and alarm humanity” and “transform the present while transcending the possible.”

The first cover, prepared by Peter Crowther, features Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Elon Musk (xAI), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), Lisa Su (AMD), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Demis Hassabis (DeepMind), Fei-Fei Li (World Labs), and Sam Altman (OpenAI).

The second cover by Jason Seiler depicts the same individuals, styled after the famous ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’ photograph.

The photograph, taken in 1932, captures eleven workers having lunch while seated on a steel beam on the 69th floor, over 200 meters high. The shot was staged, but with real workers.

The article celebrating the ‘Person of the Year’ discusses how artificial intelligence has transformed the world over 12 months in new, sometimes ‘frightening’ ways. It includes interviews with Nvidia CEO Huang, whose chips are fueling the AI boom, and investors like SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.

Journalists noted the concerning aspects of the technology, such as the death of a 16-year-old Californian who committed suicide, after which his parents blamed OpenAI for their son’s death.

In 2024, Donald Trump was named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’. Previous winners included pop star Taylor Swift, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Double Person of the Year

Huang was also named Person of the Year by the Financial Times.

The publication considers the Nvidia CEO to be “the driving force behind a massive AI boom capable of transforming the global economy.”

“He was at the center of one of the largest investment programs ever undertaken by the private sector. It simultaneously supported the US economy and fueled a stock market boom. And he was the driving force behind the adoption of technology capable of transforming entire industries,” noted the journalists.

In 2024, Financial Times named Trump as ‘Person of the Year’. This year, the title went to the head of the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, Lars Jorgensen.

Back in October, Huang stated that artificial intelligence had reached a ‘success spiral’, contributing to the industry’s continuous growth.