Elon Musk, Paris Hilton and Ben Affleck - TIME names 100 AI influencers

TIME said the 2026 selection was led by senior editor Ayesha Javed, who worked with TIME journalists and contributors for months to identify 100 people who best represent the year's key AI developments and have the greatest influence on the field.

Leaders

The Leaders category includes executives, researchers and business figures driving the development and expansion of AI.

Mark Chen, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of OpenAI were recognized for leading the company as it seeks to regain momentum against rivals while pursuing advanced AI models, personal assistants, new chips, data centers and consumer devices. Chen oversees research, Altman remains CEO and public face of the company, while Brockman is running major parts of the business.

Elon Musk of SpaceX was recognized for expanding his AI ambitions through the merger of xAI with SpaceX, taking the combined company public and pushing ahead with new AI models and major investments in AI infrastructure and software.

Dario and Daniela Amodei of Anthropic were recognized as their company has overtaken OpenAI in valuation and revenue, driven in part by the success of Claude and Claude Code, while their growing influence has also put them at the center of debates over AI's military use and regulation.

Other Leaders include Google DeepMind's Lila Ibrahim, ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi, CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator and SMIC co-CEO Liang Mong Song.

Innovators

The Innovators category highlights people developing new AI products and applications.

Ben Affleck of InterPositive was recognized for founding InterPositive, which developed AI models based on filmmakers' own content to help improve postproduction and give actors and other creators more time for creative work. Netflix acquired the company in March in a deal reportedly worth $587 million, with Affleck joining Netflix as a senior adviser.

Daniel Nadler of OpenEvidence was recognized for building an AI platform that provides doctors with fast access to medical information. More than a million U.S. clinicians now use the app, according to the company, which says the platform was consulted 38 million times in July alone.

Yang Zhilin of Moonshot AI was recognized for developing AI models that have attracted significant attention and have at times outperformed leading U.S. competitors.

Other Innovators include Cursor CEO Michael Truell, Ricursive Intelligence co-founders Azalia Mirhoseini and Anna Goldie, OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger, Caltech professor Anima Anandkumar, Suno CEO Mikey Shulman and Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman.

Shapers

The Shapers category focuses on people influencing how AI affects society, politics, creative work and workers.

Paris Hilton was recognized for her advocacy against deepfakes, while Bernie Sanders was included for his criticism of AI's potential effects on jobs and society. Sanders has also called for stopping the development of superintelligence.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, co-founder of the Creators Coalition on AI, was recognized for advocating protections and shared standards for creative workers as AI becomes more widely used in the entertainment industry.

Other Shapers include United Nations International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Sequoia Capital co-stewards Pat Grady and Alfred Lin, Wikimedia Foundation CEO Bernadette Meehan and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.

Thinkers

The Thinkers category brings together researchers, academics, writers and others examining the broader consequences and future direction of AI.

Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of Safe Superintelligence, was recognized for his work on developing AI with a strong focus on safety.

Mira Murati, co-founder and CEO of Thinking Machines Lab, was recognized for her work on AI designed to work more closely with people.

Hank Green, a YouTuber, was included among the thinkers examining AI and its impact on the public, while Josh Parker, Nvidia's head of sustainability, was recognized for work connected to the environmental challenges surrounding the industry's rapid growth.

Other Thinkers include Stanford AI researcher Fei-Fei Li, MIT CSAIL Director Daniela Rus, AI researcher Yann LeCun, Physical Intelligence co-founder Chelsea Finn and MIT economist David Autor.

TIME said the expansion of its TIME100 AI coverage reflects the growing importance of AI in everyday life and the need to examine both its potential and risks. The magazine plans to expand its AI reporting team, relaunch its AI newsletter and launch its first TIME100 AI Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., next year.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for proper use of AI in secondary education system.