TIME has unveiled its 2026 TIME100 AI list, recognising 100 people it considers among the most influential figures shaping artificial intelligence, as the technology expands its reach across business, infrastructure, research, policy and society.
The fourth annual edition brings together executives, researchers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, labour representatives and figures from the creative industries. TIME has grouped the people selected for the list across four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers.
The 2026 edition includes a worldwide cover featuring OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, xAI founder Elon Musk, IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna, Thinking Machines Lab CEO Mira Murati and AI researcher Fei-Fei Li.
The cover also features International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Google Vice President of Engineering Marian Croak, DeepMind COO Lila Ibrahim, Safe Superintelligence co-founder Ilya Sutskever, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu, White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, among others.
TIME said its editors and reporters spent months researching candidates and sought recommendations from industry leaders and expert sources before selecting the final 100.
The publication has also released interviews alongside the list with Murati, Bogdan-Martin and OpenEvidence founder and CEO Daniel Nadler, extending the edition's focus beyond the people developing foundation models to those influencing AI deployment, governance and applications.
The selection reflects how the AI landscape has expanded beyond a relatively small group of technology companies. Alongside executives building AI models and computing infrastructure, the list includes individuals involved in regulation, labour, entertainment and debates around the social implications of the technology.
TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs said AI has moved from being a technological curiosity to becoming a regular part of how people work, organise their lives and access knowledge. He also pointed to the competing promises and concerns surrounding the technology as its capabilities and adoption continue to develop.
The publication will extend the TIME100 AI initiative with an Impact Dinner in San Francisco on September 14, bringing together figures from the list and other industry leaders for discussions on AI's impact across industries and society.
The 2026 list comes amid intensifying competition around AI models, infrastructure and commercial applications, alongside continuing debates over safety, employment, copyright, governance and the broader impact of artificial intelligence.
The full list of 100 Most Influential People in AI can be found here: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/
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