How We Chose the 2025 TIME100 AI

Today we publish the third edition of the TIME100 AI, our annual look at the most influential people in artificial intelligence. We launched this list in 2023, in the wake of OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT, the moment many became aware of AI’s potential to compete with and exceed the capabilities of humans. Our aim was to show how the direction AI travels will be determined not by machines but by people—innovators, advocates, artists, and everyone with a stake in the future of this technology. Our aspiration for TIME is to be your trusted guide through this transformation. This year’s list further confirms our focus on people. One of the dominant AI storylines of 2025 has been the competition over people. Investors have poured hundreds of millions into startups, reflecting the perceived value of founders, and leaders of Big Tech firms like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg have reportedly offered nine-figure deals to attract prized technologists. Those hires, accompanied by frenzied rumors, have turned the once obscure competition over AI researchers into something that better resembles professional sports free agency. The stakes for beating the competition are so high that leading researchers are courted like NBA All-Stars. (Two of Zuckerberg’s noteworthy hires, Alexandr Wang and Nat Friedman, join him on the 2025 TIME100 AI.) Since we began the TIME100 AI, spending on AI-related technologies has accelerated, becoming a key driver of the global economy. Whether this is for better or for worse it is too soon to tell, but investment in computer-processing equipment is growing at nearly four times the rate of GDP. Computer scientist and 2025 honoree Stuart Russell estimates that the current planned expenditure could be 25 times the amount spent on the Manhattan Project, even adjusting for inflation. This is a historic deployment of capital, and the decisions on how to spend it are being made by many of the individuals who join the TIME100 AI community this year, including Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, xAI founder Elon Musk, White House AI Czar David Sacks, and the E.U.’s Henna Virkkunen. Also in this issue, we show how these individuals’ decisions are transforming not just the technology industry but also how we live and potentially how wars will be won. Justin Worland and photographer Elliot Ross traveled to Atlanta to show how the physical spaces like data centers, which make AI possible, are stressing our energy grids. And Billy Perrigo reports from Paris on the geopolitical calculations and risks that accompany the competition for achieving artificial general intelligence. Behind the Cover: How Artist Refik Anadol Made the 2025 TIME100 AI Cover The AI industry is changing rapidly. (Only 16 TIME100 AI honorees appeared previously on the list, which was overseen by Ayesha Javed.) As AI’s entry into our lives has quickened, so has the volume increased of voices warning about its developments. Those voices are recognized too in this year’s list, including Pope Leo XIV, researcher Yoshua Bengio, and French Minister Clara Chappaz. It also includes artists venturing to the frontiers of what is possible, and what happens when humans and AI work together, like Refik Anadol, who created this issue’s cover image, and actor Natasha Lyonne. “I understand the spark that AI invokes in people. Life is scary,” Lyonne told TIME. “The fact of the matter is that it’s upon us. Best we dive in, I think.” We are diving in at TIME too. In addition to the TIME100 AI community, we’re growing a team of reporters dedicated to covering the people and ideas powering AI. Part of their work can be found in a new newsletter, authored by Perrigo and Andrew R. Chow, called In the Loop. We’re also experimenting with how AI can improve our distribution of TIME’s coverage. Our partnerships with AI companies like OpenAI have helped make TIME one of the most cited sources of information on platforms like ChatGPT. And this summer, in partnership with Scale AI, we launched our first AI audio briefings. Soon, we look forward to debuting the TIME AI Agent, which will create the most interactive and personalized reading experience ever for TIME’s trusted reporting.