Time Magazine announced on December 11 that its 2025 Person of the Year is a group: "The Architects of AI." The selection recognizes eight tech executives who the publication credits with delivering what it calls "the age of thinking machines."
The honorees are Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Elon Musk (xAI), Sam Altman (OpenAI), Lisa Su (AMD), Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), and Fei-Fei Li (Stanford's Human-Centered AI Institute and World Labs).
Two Covers, One Message
Time released two cover images for the announcement. The first, by digital painter Jason Seiler, recreates the famous 1932 "Lunch atop a Skyscraper" photograph, replacing the ironworkers with the eight tech executives sitting on a beam high above a city. The second cover, by illustrator Peter Crowther, depicts the same leaders amid scaffolding surrounding giant letters spelling "AI."
"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," Time Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs wrote in his essay explaining the choice.
The Year AI Became a Daily Tool
The selection follows a year in which AI tools became embedded across industries. According to Time's cover story, AI coding assistants like Cursor achieved $1 billion in annual revenue. At Anthropic, the Claude model now writes up to 90% of its own code, according to the company's claims. At Nvidia, most engineers use AI coding tools, which Huang says helped the company nearly quadruple chip production while only doubling its workforce.
The $500 billion Stargate infrastructure project, announced at the White House in January by Trump alongside Altman, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, became a focal point of the year's AI investment story. The joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX aims to build AI data centers across the United States.
Not Without Controversy
Five of the eight honorees are billionaires with a combined fortune of $870 billion, according to Forbes estimates. The concentration of AI development among a handful of wealthy individuals and their companies has drawn criticism.
"Leading AI companies are working feverishly to replace humans in every facet of life, and they're not being shy about it," Anthony Aguirre, executive director of the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, told PBS. "The impact on our society could be catastrophic if there are no guardrails protecting what's human."
A Yahoo/YouGov poll cited by Time found that 53% of Americans think AI is likely to eventually "destroy humanity," while 63% believe AI will become too advanced for humans to control.
Previous Group Selections
This marks Time's fourth group selection in recent years. In 2018, "The Guardians" recognized journalists facing persecution. In 2017, "The Silence Breakers" spotlighted women in the #MeToo movement. Trump was the 2024 Person of the Year following his election victory, and Taylor Swift received the honor in 2023.
Time's 2025 Person of the Year issue is now available online at Time.com. Print copies arrive on newsstands December 19.
