Sam Altman, Wadhwani brothers among TIME magazine’s 100 most influential individuals in artificial intelligence

TIME magazine has unveiled its first-ever TIME100 AI list, acknowledging the 100 most influential individuals in artificial intelligence. The 2023 TIME100 AI issue showcases a global cover with striking illustrations by Neil Jamieson. Among the 28 prominent figures featured on the list are Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario and Daniela Amodei of Anthropic, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, and more.

In addition to the TIME100 AI list, this issue offers in-depth profiles and interviews with prominent personalities such as musician Holly Herndon, Noam Shazeer of character.ai, Geoffrey Hinton, the renowned researcher Meredith Whittaker, President of Signal, Shane Legg, co-founder and chief AGI scientist of Google DeepMind, Greg Brockman, co-founder and President of OpenAI, Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, Eric Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Futures, the science fiction writer Ted Chiang, policy adviser Alondra Nelson, Romesh and Sunil Wadhwani, co-founders of Mastech Digital and Wadhwani AI and several others.

“TIME’s mission is to highlight the people and ideas making the world a better, more equitable place,” said TIME Chief Executive Officer Jessica Sibley. “At this critical moment of exceptional growth and advancement in AI, we are proud to reveal the first-ever TIME100 AI list to recognize the individuals leading AI innovation, including those advancing major conversations to promote equity in AI.”

Romesh and Sunil Wadhwani established the non-profit organization Wadhwani AI to address global development issues. The Mumbai-based institute is a rare entity dedicated to advancing scalable AI solutions in healthcare, education, and agriculture sectors for underserved communities. Their approach involves strategic partnerships with governments in the Global South to pioneer this transformative ecosystem.

“We thought that in the U.S., China, and Europe, AI is being leveraged to help people who are already well-off. But maybe we can make India the global leader in applying AI for social good,” said Sunil Wadhwani.

TIME100 AI celebrates diversity

TIME’s editors and reporters gathered nominations and recommendations from industry leaders and numerous expert sources to compile this prestigious list. The result is a collection of 100 trailblazers, pioneers, innovators, and thought leaders shaping the landscape of artificial intelligence today.

The 2023 TIME100 AI list showcases 43 CEOs, founders, and co-founders, including notable figures like Elon Musk of xAI, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Andrew Hopkins of Exscientia. It also celebrates gender diversity with 41 women and nonbinary individuals, among them Rumman Chowdhury, CEO & co-founder of Humane Intelligence; Lila Ibrahim, COO of Google DeepMind; Sandra Rivera, General Manager of the Data Center and AI Group at Intel, and Margaret Mitchell, Chief AI Ethics Scientist at Hugging Face.

TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs writes: “Reporting on people and influence is what TIME does best. That led us to the TIME100 AI.…This group of 100 individuals is, in many ways, a map of the relationships and power centers driving the development of AI. They are rivals and regulators, scientists and artists, advocates and executives—the competing and cooperating humans whose insights, desires, and flaws will shape the direction of an increasingly influential technology.”

Influential figures in the list

The list represents a wide age range, with 18-year-old Sneha Revanur leading Encode Justice, the youngest honoree. At the same time, 76-year-old Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent figure in AI, is recognized for his contributions. Policymakers and government officials such as U.S. Representatives Anna Eshoo and Ted Lieu, Ian Hogarth, Chair of the U.K.’s AI Foundation Model Taskforce, Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Minister of Digital Affairs, and Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister for Artificial Intelligence, are also featured.

The TIME100 AI list extends its recognition to scientists, professors, researchers, and activists dedicated to AI ethics, bias, and safety. Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute, Emily M. Bender, Yoshua Bengio, Kate Crawford, Yi Zeng, Joy Buolamwini, Richard Mathenge, Inioluwa Deborah Raji, Timnit Gebru, and others make notable appearances.

The list also highlights creatives exploring AI’s societal influence or experimenting with the technology, including musician Grimes, science fiction writer Ted Chiang, Charlie Brooker, creator of Black Mirror, filmmaker Lilly Wachowski, artist Linda Dounia Rebeiz, Sougwen Chung, and more.

The TIME100 AI list recognizes the diverse and influential figures driving innovation and shaping the future of artificial intelligence across the globe.

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