In a glaring omission that has left many shaking their heads, Time Magazine has failed to include tech titan Elon Musk on its annual list of the “100 Most Influential People in AI.” Instead, the magazine’s 2024 cover features a composite image of 18 AI leaders, topped by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and, bizarrely, Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson.
For many, this snub is yet another sign of how corporate and media biases are steering the narrative in the artificial intelligence space, choosing to highlight personalities that fit their agenda while conveniently ignoring Musk, one of the most innovative figures of our time. Musk, after all, launched xAI last summer, a company whose AI chatbot, Grok, has quickly gained traction against competitors like ChatGPT. So, why is he missing from this supposedly definitive list.
It’s important to note that Time Magazine is now owned by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Salesforce has been a significant investor in AI startup Anthropic, which also happens to be featured on the list. According to a Time spokesperson, the magazine has disclosed its corporate ties to Salesforce throughout the issue. However, this raises serious concerns about how much of the list is shaped by merit versus financial interests and backroom deals.
The backlash on social media was swift. One user on X (formerly known as Twitter) posted, “Every person on this top 100 list if asked would say Elon should be on this list.” Another labeled the snub as proof of Time’s “bias and lack of integrity,” suggesting the magazine has a “personal vendetta” against Musk. And it’s not hard to see why. Musk has disrupted industries, from electric cars with Tesla to space exploration with SpaceX, and now artificial intelligence with xAI. His innovations have consistently pushed the boundaries of technology, yet Time Magazine, for some reason, decided to overlook him in favor of other, less impactful figures.
Musk’s contributions to AI go far beyond Grok. He founded Neuralink in 2016, a company that has made incredible strides in brain-computer interfaces. Earlier this year, Neuralink successfully implanted a brain chip in a paralyzed patient, allowing him to browse the web and play video games using only his thoughts. More recently, Musk brought online Colossus, the world’s most powerful Nvidia GPU supercomputer, further solidifying his influence in the AI world.
Yet instead of acknowledging these groundbreaking achievements, Time’s list includes Scarlett Johansson, whose only notable contribution to the AI world was a legal scuffle with OpenAI over the alleged unauthorized use of her voice. Also making the list are Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and YouTuber Marques Brownlee, figures whose inclusion raises more questions than answers.
The list also highlights Musk’s rivals, such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. While these figures certainly have a place in the conversation, the exclusion of Musk reeks of a deliberate attempt to minimize his role in shaping the future of AI.
Time Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Sam Jacobs, defended the list by saying that AI is a “rapidly evolving field” and that 91 of the members on the 2024 list weren’t featured last year. But this explanation only adds to the absurdity. How can someone like Musk, whose contributions to AI continue to grow, be left off while relative newcomers take the spotlight?
The omission of Elon Musk from Time’s AI list is more than just an oversight; it’s a reflection of how corporate media outlets, driven by financial interests and political motivations, are failing to accurately represent the true leaders in technology. Musk’s exclusion speaks volumes about the state of modern journalism—where influence is measured not by innovation or contribution but by corporate connections and preferred narratives.
