'Architects of AI' named TIME's 2025 person of the year
What's the story
TIME magazine has named the "Architects of AI" its Person of the Year for 2025. The magazine said this was the year when artificial intelligence's potential "roared into view" without a chance to turn back. "For 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's 2025 Person of the Year," it said in a social media post.
Selection criteria
TIME's deliberate selection process for 2025
TIME was careful to choose people, the "individuals who imagined, designed and built AI," instead of the technology itself. Editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs explained this decision by referencing past instances when groups or concepts were chosen. For example, in 1988, TIME named the endangered Earth as its Person of the Year and in 1982 it chose the personal computer.
Cover stars
AI leaders featured on TIME's cover
TIME's cover for this year features eight tech leaders sitting on a beam, reminiscent of the "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" photograph from the 1930s. The leaders include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google's DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Anthropic chief Dario Amodei, and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li. Five of these leaders are billionaires with a combined net worth of $870 billion.
Societal implications
AI's mainstream acceptance and societal impact
TIME noted that 2025 was the year AI moved from being a niche technology to becoming part of mainstream life. This shift was evident with AI company CEOs attending US President Donald Trump's inauguration this year. However, some experts have raised concerns over this rapid development. Anthony Aguirre of the Future of Life Institute warned about possible catastrophic impacts on society if no guardrails are put in place.
Contenders
Other contenders for TIME's person of the year
Other contenders for TIME's Person of the Year included Pope Leo XIV, Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Trump was named 2024's person of the year, after winning his second bid for the White House. The magazine has been making this selection since 1927, picking those who shaped the headlines over the previous 12 months.