'Architects of AI' named Time Magazine's Person of the Year

(Web Desk) - Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2025 is not a single person.

Instead, the magazine has recognised the year's most influential figure as "the architects" of artificial intelligence (AI).

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, X owner Elon Musk and AI "godmother" Fei-Fei Li are among those depicted on one of the magazine's two covers.

Experts say it highlights how quickly AI, and the firms behind it, are reshaping society.

It comes as a boom in the technology, ushered in by OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, continues at pace.

Its boss Sam Altman said in September its chatbot is used by around 800 million people every week.

Big tech firms are pouring billions of dollars into AI and the infrastructure behind it in a bid to stay ahead of rivals.

There are two covers this year - one a piece of art depicting the letters AI surrounded by workers, and another a painting focused on the tech leaders themselves.

At Meta, Zuckerberg has reportedly focused the firm around the tech, including its AI chatbot, which it has embedded in its popular apps.

He, along with Huang, Musk, Li and Altman, appeared on the cover alongside Lisa Su, boss of chipmaker AMD, Anthropic chief Dario Amodei, and Google's AI lab lead Sir Demis Hassabis.

"This year, the debate about how to wield AI responsibly gave way to a sprint to deploy it as fast as possible," Time said as it announced its new covers.

"But the risk-averse are no longer in the driver's seat.

"Thanks to Huang, Son, Altman, and other AI titans, humanity is now flying down the highway, all gas no brakes, toward a highly automated and highly uncertain future."

And the magazine's editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs said "no one" had as great an impact in 2025 than "the individuals who imagined, designed, and built AI".

"Humanity will determine AI's path forward, and each of us can play a role in determining AI's structure and future," he said.