TIME Magazine’s recent 100 Most Influential People in AI list, released on Thursday, 5th September, 2024, caused a stir by featuring actress Scarlett Johansson prominently while excluding Elon Musk.
The second annual AI edition, emphasized that 91 of the 100 entries were new to this year’s list to reflect the fast-evolving nature of the AI space.
Many believed Musk’s work in founding AI-related companies like xAI, Tesla’s AI-driven technology, Neuralink, and OpenAI (which developed ChatGPT) should have earned him a place on the list.
In addition, Critics argued that Musk had been a major player in advancing AI technology, recently launching Colossus, the world’s most powerful Nvidia GPU supercomputer, yet he was left off the list.
Meanwhile, Johansson was honored for her advocacy against the misuse of AI, particularly after suing OpenAI for allegedly using her voice to train a chatbot without permission.
Many speculated that TIME’s exclusion of Musk could be influenced by its owner, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who has significant ties to AI through investments in companies like Anthropic.
These investments prompted some to question whether TIME had a conflict of interest, particularly since several figures from Salesforce-backed companies were included on the list.
TIME praised Johansson as “the most prominent public figure” in advocating against AI’s unchecked growth and misuse.
However, critics saw her inclusion as a symbolic gesture rather than a recognition of technical contributions.
Social media users mocked the decision, with one sarcastically tweeting, “Scarlett Johansson is more important than Elon Musk—source: it was revealed to Time in a dream.” Another questioned the validity of her inclusion, sarcastically commenting:“Because she was the voice in an AI movie? Lol.”
However, some supporters defended Johansson, arguing her advocacy in the AI space is crucial as deepfakes and AI-generated content continue to raise ethical concerns. Yet, critics counter that her contribution, compared to those pushing the frontiers of AI technology, is relatively limited.
Critics have also viewed the omission of Musk as reflective of TIME’s editorial biases, with one commenter stating that the list showed a “collapse of corporate media integrity.”
Despite the backlash, TIME stood by its decisions with the magazine’s Editor-in-chief, Sam Jacobs, explaining that the 2024 list was meant to show how AI is transitioning from laboratory innovations to everyday applications.
Among those featured were prominent tech figures such as Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Anil Kapoor, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, and Sundar Pichai of Google, all recognized for their companies’ significant contributions to AI.
