TIME Names 'The Architects of AI' as 2025 Person of the Year

TIME has named Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and a cast of other tech titans as 2025’s “person of the year” under the collective moniker of “The Architects of AI.”

In 2025, AI took center stage as the technology reshaped industries, economies, and geopolitical landscapes at a breakneck pace. This year, TIME Magazine has chosen the leaders of this new technology as its person of the year. Leading the charge were figures like Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia along with other tech titans like Sam Altman of OpenAI, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, collectively referred to as “The Architects of AI” by TIME.

The AI boom has had an undeniable impact on the economy, with companies racing to deploy the technology or risk obsolescence. OpenAI’s ChatGPT surpassed 800 million weekly users, becoming the fastest-growing consumer app of all time. This year AI wrote code, aided scientists, generated viral content, and spurred companies to re-examine their strategies. Researchers also found that AI systems could scheme, deceive and manipulate humans, raising concerns about the technology’s risks and downsides.

Under the Trump administration, the U.S. government formed close ties with the tech industry, enacting AI-friendly policies and investing heavily in the technology as part of a great power competition with China. The scramble for AI dominance reshaped geopolitics, with the technology being wielded as a tool of diplomacy and leverage between nations. It also transformed the way people live and work, with AI chatbots being used for everything from emotional support to business assistance. But the technology’s rapid rise also came with risks and downsides, from job displacement to the phenomenon of “ChatGPT Induced Psychosis.” AI chatbots also pose a danger to teenagers struggling with mental health. One family’s lawsuit following the tragic death of their teenage son calls ChatGPT the young man’s “suicide coach.”

Breitbart News Social Media Director Wynton Hall, author of the upcoming book Code Red: The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI, commented on TIME honoring the Architects of AI:

TIME got it right last year when it named President Trump Person of the Year. This year, it should have gone to Charlie Kirk. Instead, giving it to the “Architects of AI” underscores the seismic shift happening under our feet. AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a political force of enormous power. The tech elites on TIME’s cover are laying the digital rails that will shape our jobs, our children’s education, our national defense, and more.

Another way to put it: you may not be interested in AI politics, but AI politics is interested in you.

I think we in the conservative movement have to be as sharp and engaged on AI policy as we are on taxes, the right to life, free speech, and national security. Early mastery of each new technology determines those who thrive and who get left behind, and that’s as true in politics as it is in business.