According to CNET, Time Magazine has named “The Architects of AI” its Person of the Year for 2025, marking a year where AI’s influence became inescapable. Editor Sam Jacobs stated 2025 was when AI’s “full potential roared into view” and that there is “no turning back or opting out.” The decision is showcased on two covers for the December 29, 2025 issue: one conceptual image of the word “AI” under construction, and another featuring tech leaders like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, AMD’s Lisa Su, Elon Musk, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang posed on a beam, echoing a famous 1932 photo. Forrester analyst Thomas Husson noted that 45% of US and UK online adults believe AI is a serious threat, while an identical 45% think it will make life easier long-term. This choice follows past non-person winners like “You” in 2006 and “The Computer” in 1982.
The Inescapable Year
Here’s the thing about Time’s choice: it feels less like an award and more like an acknowledgment of a force of nature. Calling a group of builders the “Person” of the Year is a clever way to personify what is essentially a diffuse, world-altering wave of technology. Jacobs’s line, “Whatever the question was, AI was the answer,” perfectly captures the breathless, sometimes reckless, enthusiasm of the past year. But it also hints at the anxiety. When one tool is proposed as the solution to everything, from scientific discovery to creative work to companionship, you have to wonder if we’re asking the right questions.
Beyond The CEO Photo Op
The cover with the tech CEOs is the obvious headline-grabber. It’s the modern “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper,” but instead of anonymous ironworkers, it’s the billionaires steering our digital fate. That’s a powerful image, but it’s also a bit misleading. The “architects” are not just those few faces. They’re the countless researchers, engineers, data labelers, and even the users whose interactions train these systems. Time’s other cover—the word “AI” being built—arguably gets closer to that messy, collective reality. AI isn’t a finished monument; it’s a perpetually under-construction site, full of promise and potential hazards.
A Tipping Point With Ambivalence
Forrester’s data is the real story here. The perfect 45/45 split between fear and optimism? That’s the cultural mood in a nutshell. We’re racing forward because the potential is staggering, but we’re white-knuckling the dashboard because nobody’s truly in control. Husson calls 2025 a “tipping point,” and he’s probably right. The next phase, where AI gets “more personal and embedded,” is where it stops being a tool we use and starts being an environment we live in. That’s when the real societal stress tests begin. Will it be a smooth integration, or a jarring collision?
So, was Time right? Basically, yes. You can’t tell the story of 2025 without AI being the main character—or rather, the overwhelming setting. It dominated investment, policy debates, creative industries, and our own daily workflows. By honoring the builders, Time is subtly pointing the finger at human agency. These systems aren’t autonomous natural phenomena; they’re being built by people, with all our brilliance and biases. Now the real question is, what are we building, and for whom?
