STORY: :: TIME / TIME Person of the Year
:: Released December 11, 2025
:: Time Magazine names 'The Architects of AI' as its 'Person of the Year'
:: Fabian Stephany, AI Researcher and Lecturer, University of Oxford
"AI is not a person. AI wouldn't exist without people. But I still advocate for including more humans into this than just those big tech names or big names from, from the machine learning industry. //
"It needs a lot of work to build this technology. It needs a lot of work to create the data that is fed into this technology, there are millions of people working around the world //
"And I think what people should generally remember is that there is no technological revolution without humans, without human skills, because it's us creating, maintaining and governing this technology. So ultimately, the decision of where this ride is going to go is up to us."
The 2025 "Person of the Year" issue features a cover story that explores how AI changed the world over the year in new and "sometimes frightening ways." It includes interviews with Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang, whose chips are powering the AI boom, and AI investors such as SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.
It also explores such troubling aspects of AI as the death of a 16-year-old Californian who committed suicide, after which his parents sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI, blaming the company for their son's death because of conversations he had with the chatbot.
Time is among many media outlets partnering with AI firms to license content and develop new tools. In June 2024 it signed a multi-year content deal with OpenAI that gave the ChatGPT maker access to its archived news content. In response to user queries, the chatbot cites and links back to the source on Time.com.
