Artificial intelligence architects were named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" on Thursday.
Why it matters: The selection underscores the impact that the AI revolution is having on technology, business and humanity.
What they're saying: "This was the year when artificial intelligence's full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back or opting out," Time editor in chief Sam Jacobs wrote. "Whatever the question was, AI was the answer."
- "Humanity will determine AI's path forward, and each of us can play a role in determining AI's structure and future," Jacobs wrote. Our work has trained it and sustained it, and now we find ourselves moving through a world increasingly defined by it."
Yes, but: Time also highlighted the unknowns and tradeoffs, including how potentially disruptive AI could be.
- "The amount of energy required to run these systems drains resources," Jacobs wrote. "Jobs are going poof. Misinformation proliferates as AI posts and videos make it harder to determine what's real."
- "Large-scale cyberattacks are possible without human intervention. There is also an extraordinary concentration of power among a handful of business leaders, in a manner that hasn't been witnessed since the Gilded Age."
Zoom out: Time said the selection is the third honoring a key moment in the technological revolution of the past half-century.
- "The rise of the personal computer in the 1980s transformed the economy," Jacobs wrote.
- "The emergence of digital communities was captured famously—and infamously—by TIME naming 'You' as Person of the Year in 2006, with a mirrored cover. Hindsight shows how prescient those picks were."
State of play: Polymarket bettors predicted that artificial intelligence would win the designation, with a 39% chance as of Dec. 2.
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had 27% of the prediction guess and Pope Leo XIV had 11%.
Between the lines: Time struck a multiyear content licensing deal and strategic partnership with OpenAI in 2024, giving the AI giant access to more than a century of the publication's archives to help train its language models and answer questions.
Flashback: President Trump was Time's "Person of the Year" last year after winning the 2024 election. He was also selected in 2016.
Go deeper: This is Polymarket's prediction for Time's "Person" of the Year
