TIME Names The Architects of AI Person of the Year

TIME magazine named “The Architects of AI” its 2025 Person of the Year on December 11, an unusual collective recognition of the researchers, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who engineered and scaled generative artificial intelligence systems. The package framed the group as the force behind what the magazine called the age of thinking machines, noting the profound and swift ways their creations have entered products, workplaces and homes.

The cover art included an illustration by Peter Crowther and an alternate painting by Jason Seiler. Images reproduced by Reuters showed several of the public figures TIME placed at the center of the story, including Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Elon Musk of xAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Lisa Su of AMD, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Demis Hassabis of DeepMind Technologies, Fei Fei Li of Stanford University and World Labs, and Sam Altman of OpenAI. TIME described the honorees as those who imagined, designed and built AI and whose work delivered the era now unfolding.

In an editorial framing the selection, editor in chief Sam Jacobs wrote that “this was the year when artificial intelligence’s full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back or opting out.” The magazine added that the Architects “dominated the year’s headlines, for better or for worse,” and that their work both “wowed and worried humanity,” while “transforming the present and transcending the possible.” TIME positioned the choice in a long arc of technological inflection points, likening the moment to prior shifts such as the rise of the personal computer and the emergence of participatory digital culture.

The magazine also recounted a string of consequential industry and public private moves tied to the year’s AI buildup. In one prominent episode, Sam Altman, Larry Ellison and Masayoshi Son appeared at the White House and pledged up to 500 billion dollars in private investment to build AI data centers across the United States in a project the trio called Stargate. TIME presented that pledge as part of a narrative of global competition and massive private investment reshaping infrastructure and strategy in the sector.

Analysts and other outlets framed the selection as recognition of a tipping point in adoption. Forrester analyst Thomas Husson told reporters that “Most consumers use it without even being aware of it,” and noted that AI is being integrated into hardware, software and services at a pace he described as faster than the internet or mobile revolutions. Coverage from Axios and the BBC emphasized that the choice of a group rather than an individual captures the diffuse but coordinated effort that has driven generative AI into wide use.

TIME published a Person of the Year package online and in print that includes profiles, artwork and an extended essay on the social and economic implications of AI. By honoring a cohort rather than a single actor, the magazine underscored how the development and deployment of powerful AI technologies has become a collective project with consequences for labor markets, national strategy and everyday life.