image source, Time
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- Author, Imran Rahman Jones and Liv McMahon
- Author title, BBC technology journalists
The magazine’s 2025 Person of the Year Time It’s not just one.
Instead, the publication recognized “the architects” of artificial intelligence (AI) as the most influential figure of the year.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang; the director of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg; X owner Elon Musk; and the “godmother” of AI, Fei-Fei Li, are some of the people who appear on one of the magazine’s two covers.
Experts say this shows how quickly AI and the companies that develop it are changing society.
image source, Getty Images
This comes amid the technology boom, fueled by OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, that is continuing rapidly.
The company’s director, Sam Altman, said in September that his Chatbot It is used by around 800 million people every week.
Big tech companies are investing billions of dollars in AI and the infrastructure that supports it to stay ahead of their competitors.
This year there are two covers: one with a design that shows the letters AI surrounded by workers, and another that focuses on the tech leaders themselves.
image source, Time
At Meta, Zuckerberg has reportedly placed the company’s focus on AI technology, including Chatbotwhich it has integrated into its popular applications.
He appears on the cover alongside Huang, Musk, Li and Altman alongside Lisa Su, head of chipmaker AMD; Dario Amodei, director of Anthropic; and Demis Hassabis, head of Google’s AI lab.
“This year, the debate about responsible use of AI has given way to a race to implement it as quickly as possible,” he said. Time when announcing their new covers.
“But if you avoid risks, you are no longer in control,” he added.
“Thanks to Huang, Son, Altman and other AI titans, humanity is moving at full speed and without brakes toward a highly automated and very uncertain future,” the publication says.
The editor-in-chief of TimeSam Jacobs, noted that “no one” has had as big an impact in 2025 as “the people who imagined, designed, and built AI.”
“Humanity will determine the path of AI, and each of us can play a role in determining its structure and future,” he said.
Alina Timofeeva, a cybersecurity and AI consultant, told the BBC of the decision Time Recognizing the architects of AI highlights it as a “determining force in the functioning of our economies, institutions, and daily lives today.”
But he added that while those responsible are on the front page, “the way millions of people choose to use AI will determine whether it becomes a multiplier for inclusion and opportunity or a catalyst for greater inequality.”
image source, Time
Thomas Husson, an analyst at consulting firm Forrester, said 2025 could be seen as a “tipping point” for how often AI is used in our daily lives.
“Most consumers use it without even being aware of it,” he told the BBC.
Husson explained that AI is being integrated into hardware, software and services, meaning its adoption is “much faster than during the internet or mobile revolution.”
Some people prefer it now Chatbots to search engines and social networks to plan vacations, find Christmas gifts and discover recipes.
Others are concerned about their energy consumption, training data and its impact on their livelihood and choose not to use it at all.
Nik Kairinos, founder and CEO of Fountech AI Lab, said the covers are “an honest assessment” of the technology’s impact, but said “recognition should not be confused with preparation.”
“At this moment, AI can still be a salvation or a threat to humanity,” he said.
“We are still in the early stages of developing AI systems that are trustworthy, responsible and guided by human values,” he added.
“There is a huge responsibility for those of us who develop the technology and commercialize AI tools,” he concluded.
Recognition of groups over individuals
image source, Getty Images
This is not the first time that the Person of the Year has been awarded by a large group: in 2014 it was awarded to the workers who fought Ebola, and in 2002 to the figure of the whistleblower, known in English as Whistleblowers.
Previously, in 1982, the computer was recognized, with the magazine declaring that Americans had an “overflowing passion” for the device.
The Magazine Time He called it “partly a fad” but also explained that it “partly reflects the idea of how life could be improved.”
The computer was championed by several technology entrepreneurs at the time, including Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and IBM President John Opel.
In 2006, the Person of the Year was named “You,” which was meant to represent the power of individuals on the Internet.
Examples cited included Wikipedia contributors, early YouTube users, and MySpace users who “took power away from some and selflessly helped each other.”
“This will not only change the world, but the way the world changes,” the release said at the time.

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