Jensen Huang Missing From TIME 100 AI List Despite Nvidia's Central Role in AI Revolution

Guess Who Didn't Make TIME's Top 100 People in AI List?

Time Magazine just published its list of the hundred most influential people in AI, and one name is conspicuously absent: Jensen Huang, the man whose company has done more than any other to power the AI boom. Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) were originally built for video games starting in the early nineties. Two decades later, researchers in the then-burgeoning field of AI realized the chips were perfect for handling the massive computational workloads required to train and operate neural networks, the systems that would later form the backbone of ChatGPT, Claude, and other chatbots. Nvidia had accidentally created the fundamental building block of modern AI tools, transforming it into the most valuable company in history. In short: No Nvidia, no AI boom. The company's total revenue for the second fiscal quarter of this year was $96.2 billion, more than double what it had been during the same period last year. Its chips have become so crucial to global tech infrastructure that they're a critical point of leverage in the AI race between the U.S. and China, with the federal government under both Biden and Trump restricting their export to China. At this point, you've probably heard something about all the circular deals that underpin the buildout of AI infrastructure over the last couple of years. One constant presence in those deals is Nvidia. At this point, people have taken to calling Nvidia the "central bank of AI." Therefore, one might expect to see the company's founder and chief executive mentioned alongside names like Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Dario Amodei, all of whom were assigned prominent positions under the "Leaders" category on Time's list. Yet Huang didn't make the cut. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Demis Hassabis, the Nobel laureate founder and recently departed CEO of DeepMind, were also not mentioned. (Huang, Zuckerberg, and Hassabis were, however, all included in Time's 2025 "Person of the Year" award, which was collectively given to what the magazine called "the architects of AI.") Actor and Director Ben Affleck was mentioned in the list, though. He founded a company called InterPositive in 2022, which helps filmmakers build AI-powered post-production tools trained on their own content. It was acquired by Netflix earlier this year for a reported $587 million. Paris Hilton was also included for her advocacy work against nonconsensual sexual deepfakes. This year's list was curated by TIME senior editor Ayesha Javed, "who spent months working with TIME journalists and contributors to find the group of 100 individuals who best represent the year's key storylines and who, in our opinion, are having the most influence in driving these developments," according to a statement published Thursday by the outlet's editor-in-chief, Sam Jacobs. Of course, lists of this kind are not an unvarnished representation of the true state of affairs within AI. Like any award, it reveals as much about the institution handing it out as it does about the recipient. It's understandable that a publication like Time would focus on pop culture icons to the exclusion of the leaders behind the "picks and shovels" companies like Nvidia, AMD, and TSMC. But make no mistake, they -- not the A-list celebrities -- are the real power brokers in AI.

Godfather Snubbed: Time's 100 AI List Jilts Jensen Huang -- Like Musk in 2024 - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang is one of the most influential names in the AI sector, and to some, like tech analyst Dan Ives, he's known as the "Godfather of AI." When listing names that are reshaping AI and building on its growth in 2026, many would have a hard time coming up with 100 names more important than Huang. That's why it may come as a big surprise that the Time 100 AI 2026 list didn't feature Huang, who was on the list the first three times it was published, starting in 2023. Ben Affleck, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Paris Hilton and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Those names all make the 2026 list and are said to be more influential to AI this year than Huang. AI Power Dynamics In 2026 "Meet the innovators, leaders, and thinkers reshaping our world through groundbreaking advances in artificial intelligence," Time says. The company says the goal of the list is to find 100 individuals "who beat represent the year's key storylines and who, in our opinion, are having the most influence in driving these developments." Also featured on this year's list are Elon Musk, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who many would agree are important to the AI sector. The list also includes company executives from IBM, DeepMind, ByteDance, Broadcom, Databricks, Amazon.com and Oracle. Not including Huang seems like a miss and while the list likely tries to have new faces each year, Nvidia is as relevant to the AI sector over the last year than any other year and some could argue the company is even more important now. Tech What's Hotter Than Nvidia Stock? Jensen Huang Autograph Action Heats Up: Signed Graphics Card Auction Cost The market for Nvidia memorabilia and Jensen Huang autographs is heating up. Here's the latest item up for auction. 3 min read Read this article Huang Snub Echoes Musk Past Omission Musk made the inaugural Time 100 AI list in 2023, but was famously snubbed on the 2024 list. The omission is similar to Huang being left out this year, as actress Scarlett Johansson made the list over him alongside other less recognizable names. The billionaire, who leads SpaceX and Tesla, rejoined the Time 100 list last year and also made this year's list. Musk's omission went viral on social media with many arguing that his contributions to AI via xAI and Tesla were more important than many others on the list. This year's list skips out on many of the CEOs for Magnificent Seven companies. Musk is the only CEO of a Magnificent Seven company to be represented on the 2026 list. Executives from Amazon.com and Google make the list, but not the CEOs of the parent companies. Time is likely caught in a tough spot as they are never going to be able to please everyone, but when it comes to AI, including Elon Musk and Jensen Huang every year might just end up being the safest play. Tech Nvidia Q2 Highlights: Double Beat, Huang Says 'AI Infrastructure Buildout is at Full Steam' Nvidia Q2 highlights, key figures and a look at the company's updated guidance. 2 min read Read this article Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.