TIME magazine names ‘Architects of AI’ Its Person Of The Year

TIME has taken an unusual route this year by awarding its Person of the Year title not to an individual, but to a group it calls the “Architects of AI” — the leaders shaping today’s artificial intelligence boom. One cover recreates the iconic Lunch Atop a Skyscraper photograph with eight prominent tech figures seated on a beam, while another shows scaffolding around massive “AI” letters designed to look like computer hardware.

TIME’s Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs said no one influenced 2025 more than the innovators who “imagined, designed, and built AI,” praising them for both inspiring and unsettling the world. The magazine notes that AI has rapidly moved from anticipation to everyday use, with tools like ChatGPT seeing explosive global adoption.

Experts quoted by TIME say AI is now weaving itself into daily life faster than the Internet or smartphones ever did, powering hardware, software, and services people rely on. At the same time, the publication warns of the challenges ahead, including potential job losses as more companies embrace automation. Naming groups as Person of the Year is not new for TIME. Past selections include Ebola fighters in 2014, whistleblowers in 2002, “the Computer” in 1982, and “You” in 2006 to highlight the rise of user-generated content.