Contested AI Power
TIME100 AI List Highlights Global Influence and Contested Power Struggles in Technology
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Key Points
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The TIME100 AI list highlights a broad set of influence beyond just tech leaders, naming public figures and policymakers such as Bernie Sanders, Liz Shuler, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt alongside technologists, signaling AI's societal and political reach.
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Moonshot AI's Yang Zhilin is singled out for building models that attract extraordinary attention and sometimes outperform the most advanced U.S. competitors, underscoring international momentum in AI development.
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Larry Ellison’s Stargate initiative is described as a massive data-center push, with Oracle taking on roughly $130 billion in debt to finance the infrastructure and a possible up-to-$500 billion joint venture to train and run OpenAI’s models.
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Anthropic has been maneuvering around geopolitical and regulatory scrutiny, clashing with the Pentagon over military use and facing export-control actions on Mythos and Fable 5, while its leaders advocate pre-deployment testing and a self-regulatory framework for frontier AI.
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Jeff Bezos’ Prometheus project aims to translate AI into tangible engineering tools that can design and manufacture high-tech products, with leaders describing an end-to-end shift toward an AI-driven engineering workflow and a $12 billion funding round at a $41 billion valuation.
TIME's 2026 TIME100 AI list marks a turning point: artificial intelligence has moved from tech curiosity to a central, contested force reshaping society. TIME names 100 influential leaders shaping the field, from billionaire entrepreneurs to policymakers and labor leaders, signaling AI's reach into politics, safety, and global competition.
The list reveals deep tensions. While tech leaders race to build bigger models and infrastructure, others push for testing, regulation, and ethical guardrails. Jeff Bezos is funding AI engineering tools. Anthropic just surpassed OpenAI in valuation. And Larry Ellison is financing a $130 billion data-center bet to power OpenAI's models — blending innovation with massive financial risk.
Bezos Pivots to AI-Powered Engineering
Jeff Bezos co-founded Prometheus, an AI lab that translates software into tangible products. TIME reports the lab raised $12 billion at a $41 billion valuation. The mission: build AI tools that can design and manufacture high-tech objects. Bezos is betting AI's real power lies not in language models alone, but in automating the entire product-engineering workflow — from concept to factory floor.
Anthropic Climbs Past OpenAI in Valuation
Anthropic has surpassed OpenAI in both valuation and revenue, driven by Claude Code and related models that customers want to buy. TIME notes the startup's leaders — Dario and Daniela Amodei — are wading into geopolitical minefields. They clashed with the Pentagon over military use and faced export controls on models like Mythos and Fable 5. Yet they advocate pre-deployment testing and self-regulation for frontier AI, trying to balance safety with speed.
Ellison's Stargate Bets Billions on Cloud Compute
Oracle founder Larry Ellison is financing a massive data-center expansion to train and run OpenAI's models. TIME reports Ellison is taking on roughly $130 billion in debt and exploring a potential $500 billion joint venture. The bet signals a fundamental truth: AI progress depends on scaleable compute and hardware. Ellison's infrastructure push could determine who controls AI's future — and who profits.
Global AI Race and Governance Pressure
The TIME100 AI list spans far beyond Silicon Valley. TIME includes policymakers, labor leaders, and public figures like Bernie Sanders and Liz Shuler, showing AI's political weight. Moonshot AI's Yang Zhilin is recognized for building models that rival top U.S. competitors, signaling the international race is heating up. Lila Ibrahim of Google DeepMind advocates for proactive safety, government collaboration, and a possible new role — chief AI readiness officer — to ensure responsible deployment across the industry.
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