The Architects of AI Are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year
TIME said 2025 marked the moment artificial intelligence surged into everyday life, and chose to spotlight the people who imagined, designed and built the technology, rather than the technology itself.
- TIME magazine has selected the "Architects of AI" as its 2025 Person of the Year.
- The magazine's editors cited 2025 as the year AI's potential "truly erupted into view," ushering in an era of "thinking machines."
- The award is intended to honour the human creators who imagined, designed, and built AI, rather than the technology itself.
- This group was chosen over other prominent contenders, including individual AI leaders like Jensen Huang and Sam Altman.
TIME magazine has named the “Architects of AI” as its 2025 Person of the Year, arguing that 2025 was the year AI’s potential truly erupted into view, and that there is no returning to a world without it.
In its citation, TIME framed the choice as recognition of those who have ushered in an era of “thinking machines”, a shift the magazine described as both exhilarating and unsettling.
The editors said the award is meant to honour the people behind the breakthrough, not the technology itself, spotlighting those who imagined, designed and built AI.
Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs noted that TIME has not only selected individuals, but also groups of people.
On rarer occasions, it has named a concept or an invention, citing past examples such as “Endangered Earth” in 1988 and the personal computer in 1982.
Before the announcement, prediction sites had already tipped AI as the favourite for the 2025 title.
Other prominent names widely seen as contenders included Nvidia chief Jensen Huang and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, was also viewed as a potential challenger, as was US President Donald Trump, who was named TIME’s Person of the Year in 2024.
TIME’s Person of the Year tradition began in 1927, with editors choosing the figure or, at times, a group or an idea they believed had the greatest influence on the headlines over the previous 12 months.
Time Magazine
