Time magazine excluded tech mogul and artificial intelligence advocate Elon Musk from its annual list of the "100 Most Influential People in AI" while featuring actress Scarlett Johansson on the cover.
The magazine's 2024 cover featured a composite image showcasing 18 AI leaders, including NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, with actress Scarlett Johansson prominently featured as well.
Netizens Question Johansson's Inclusion, Musk's Exclusion
Social media users also questioned the inclusion on the list of Johansson – who had a dispute with OpenAI over its alleged unauthorized use of her voice to train a chatbot – Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor, and YouTuber Marques Brownlee.
The list also featured Musk's competitors, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Sundar Pichai, and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. "If the world of AI was dominated by the emergence of startup labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and their competitors in 2023, this year, as critics and champions alike have noted, we've seen the outsize influence of a small number of tech giants," Editor in Chief Sam Jacobs wrote on Thursday.
"This year's list offers examples of the possibilities for AI when it moves out of the lab and into the world," Jacobs added. Jacobs highlighted the dynamic nature of artificial intelligence, emphasizing that as the field evolves, new leaders emerge.
Musk's AI Empire Ignored
The second annual TIME100 AI edition, published on Thursday, featured prominent CEOs such as Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Sam Altman of OpenAI, along with other founders and influential figures in the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelligence.
Despite launching xAI last summer and developing the chatbot Grok, which has gained popularity compared to competitors like ChatGPT, Musk was notably absent from the TIME100 AI list. The century-old magazine, now owned by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, has invested significantly in the AI startup Anthropic.
Salesforce has established a $500 million AI fund to support emerging companies. "Disclosures are included throughout the TIME100 AI list for any companies mentioned that are backed by Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Salesforce, where TIME's owner and co-chair is CEO," a Time spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
Time magazine's surprising decision to exclude Elon Musk from its "100 Most Influential People in AI" list sparked widespread criticism and discussion on social media. "Every person on this top 100 list if asked would say Elon should be on this list," one user wrote in an X post.
Another social media user accused Time magazine of bias, asserting that the magazine's omission of Musk resulted from a "lack of integrity" and a "personal vendetta against him."
In 2016, the 53-year-old billionaire founded Neuralink, which gained significant attention earlier this year when it successfully implanted a brain chip in a paralyzed patient, enabling him to use his mind to navigate the internet and play online games.
Earlier this year, the first participant in Musk's Neuralink "brain chip" trial described the experience and outcome of the procedure as "amazing" and "rewarding." Additionally, just this week, Musk launched Colossus, the world's most potent NVIDIA GPU supercomputer.
"I thought it was cute that Elon Musk wasn't on the cover of Time's 100 most influential people in AI," another social media user posted on X. "I had to check for myself when I heard he didn't make the list at all. My f*cking car drives itself lol."
Sam Jacobs noted that 91 of the individuals featured on the 2024 list were not included in the previous year's edition, highlighting the rapid pace of change in the field of artificial intelligence. As stated in a press release, the list was compiled through nominations from numerous industry leaders and experts.
