Time left technology mogul and artificial intelligence proponent Elon Musk off its annual list. “The 100 Most Influential People in AI” – But this year's cover features actress Scarlett Johansson.
The magazine created a composite image for its 2024 cover showing photos of 18 AI leaders, topped by Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, with the “Black Widow” star also prominently featured.
The second annual TIME 100 AI edition, released Thursday, highlights leading CEOs including Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman, as well as founders and influencers in the fast-growing field.
Yet Musk, who launched xAI last summer and whose chatbot Grok has gained an edge against rivals such as ChatGPT – was conspicuously missing from its pages.
The hundred-year-old magazine is now owned by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, whose software company Salesforce is owned by Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce. Major Investors in Anthropic and OpenAI, a $500 million AI fund Providing support to emerging companies.
Time's strange decision to ignore the Tesla and SpaceX founder created an uproar on social media.
“If asked every person on this top 100 list would say Alan should be on this list,” one user posted on X.
Another user said the insult was evidence of Time's “bias and lack of integrity” and “his personal vendetta against them”.
The billionaire founded Neuralink in 2016, which made headlines earlier this year when it successfully implanted a chip in the brain of a paralysed patient, allowing him to browse the web and play internet games with his mind.
Just this week, Musk brought the world’s most powerful Nvidia GPU supercomputer — Colossus — online.
“I thought it was cute that Elon Musk wasn't on the cover of Time's list of the 100 most influential people in AI,” another social media user posted on X. “When I heard his name wasn't on the list, I had to check for myself. My car drives itself, ha ha.”
Social media users also questioned the inclusion of Johansson – who has had a falling out with OpenAI – on the list Alleged use of her voice Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and YouTuber Marques Brownlee have been accused of training a chatbot without their permission.
The list also included Musk's rival Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, as well as Google chief Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
“If the world of AI in 2023 was dominated by startup labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and their competitors, this year, as critics and champions alike have noted, we have seen the influence of a small number of tech giants grow,” Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs wrote Thursday“This year's list exemplifies the possibilities of AI as it moves out of the lab and into the world.”
Jacobs emphasized that artificial intelligence is a rapidly evolving field — and with these changes come new leaders.
He said 91 members of the 2024 list were not on last year's list, which he described as “a sign of how rapidly the region is changing.”
Time did not respond to requests for clarification on the nomination process.
According to the press release, its editors and reporters sought nominations from dozens of industry leaders and experts to compile the list.
