The US magazine Time has designated Artificial Intelligence as “Person of the Year 2025”. The magazine’s most coveted cover story today illustrates how AI “is influencing our lives, for better or worse”. There are two covers: in the first, Time has placed, perched on a steel beam like the workers building the skyscrapers in the famous 1932 photo Lunch atop a Skyscraper, Mark Zuckerberg, Lisa Su, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei and Fei-Fei Li.
In the second, the CEOs themselves populate a structure in the shape of the letters A and I covered by shelving.
The tradition of the Person of the Year and famous precedents
Every December, Time has named the Person of the Year since 1927. In 2023 Taylor Swift was the first selected for her achievement in the arts. Disappointed Donald Trump who was expecting his third cover. Artificial intelligence was favored on the eve.
And it is the third time that the magazine has chosen a group of individuals: in 2018, under the label of “The Guardians”, journalists at risk of death or persecution due to their work obtained recognition, while the year before the honor had gone to the “Silence Breakers”, the #MeToo women who came out against the sexual harassment of the powerful.
When Time chose objects or concepts instead of people
Time instead chose objects or concepts three times for its end-of-year cover: in 1982 it went to the personal computer due to the rapid transformation it was operating on society, while in 1988 it was the Earth’s turn as a planet in danger.
In 2006 the magazine focused on the revolution of social media users with a “You” in large letters on the cover.
The other covers of the year: leaders, athletes and entertainment icons
Yesterday, on the eve of the designation, Time had released other covers linked to personalities who stood out in specific sectors: Leonardo DiCaprio as a leader in entertainment, the all-girls K-Pop group Demon Hunters as a revelation of 2025, the basketball champion A’Ja Wilson as athlete of the year, and Neal Mohan of You Tube as CEO.