Time, the U.S. current affairs weekly that selects the Person of the Year who had the greatest impact on the world each year, this year chose tech business leaders who drove advances in artificial intelligence (AI).
Time said on Dec. 11 (local time) that "Architects of AI" are the People of the Year.
On Time's cover appeared AI-related corporations chief executive officers (CEOs) such as Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Lisa Su of AMD, Elon Musk of Tesla, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, and Sam Altman of OpenAI.
Time said, "This was the year when the full potential of artificial intelligence emerged powerfully, making it clear that there was no going back or getting out before AI," adding, "No one had a greater impact this year than the individuals who imagined, designed and built AI."
Time said, "Whatever the question was, AI was the answer," adding, "AI accelerated medical research and productivity and seemed to make the impossible possible. It was hard to read or watch anything without encountering news about the rapid development of AI technology and the people driving it." It continued, "No corporations leader could talk about the future without mentioning the impact of this technological revolution. No parent or teacher could ignore how their teen children or students were using AI."
Time assessed that AI and businesspeople also had a big impact on the policies of the Trump administration in the United States, and that AI served as a major variable in international relations, including competition between the United States and China. Time stressed, "They changed the direction of government policy, reshaped geopolitical rivals, and brought robots into the home," adding, "AI has likely emerged as the most important tool in great-power competition since the advent of nuclear weapons."
However, Time also pointed out side effects accompanying AI's development, including enormous energy consumption, job losses, the spread of fake news, cyberattacks, and immense power concentrated in a few businesspeople.
Since featuring Charles Lindbergh, who made the first nonstop transatlantic flight in 1927, on its cover, Time has selected the Person of the Year annually. Last year, Donald Trump, the U.S. president who won the U.S. presidential election and returned to the White House after four years, was selected.