Critics are questioning Time magazine’s decision to exclude billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk from its annual “100 Most Influential People in AI” list while featuring Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson on the cover.
The magazine’s 2024 cover presents a composite image of 18 AI leaders, prominently including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang alongside Johansson. The second annual TIME100 AI edition also features notable CEOs like Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Sam Altman of OpenAI.
Musk’s absence is surprising given his significant contributions to the field. He recently launched Grok, an AI associated with X (formerly Twitter), and founded Neuralink in 2016, which made headlines this year for successfully implanting a brain chip in a paralyzed patient. Additionally, Musk recently unveiled Colossus, the world’s most powerful Nvidia GPU supercomputer.
The inclusion of Johansson, Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor, and YouTuber Marques Brownlee on the list has drawn criticism from social media users. Notably, Musk’s competitors—such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella—are featured on the list.
Time magazine is now owned by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, whose company has invested heavily in Anthropic and OpenAI, Musk’s competitors, creating a $500 million AI fund to support emerging companies.
One user on X remarked, “Every person on this top 100 list, if asked, would say Elon should be on it.” Another criticized Time for its “bias and lack of integrity,” suggesting a personal vendetta against Musk. A third user added, “I thought it was surprising that Elon Musk wasn’t on the cover of Time’s 100 most influential people in AI. I had to check when I heard he didn’t make the list at all.”
