Across the long span of human history, only a few inventions have fundamentally reshaped civilisation. Fire pushed back darkness, the wheel conquered distance, agriculture stabilised societies, iron transformed labour and warfare, and ships linked continents. The printing press loosened elite control over knowledge, electricity redefined daily life, oil powered modern industry, and computers, along with the internet, rewired communication and economies. To this rare lineage, the 21st century has added artificial intelligence — an innovation unlike any before it, because it

does not merely extend human strength or speed but begins to imitate the most basic human faculty: thinking.

It is therefore deeply symbolic that Time magazine chose the “Architects of AI” as its Person of the Year for 2025. By honouring a collective rather than a single individual, the magazine acknowledged that artificial intelligence is a global achievement, not the triumph of one mind or one nation. Declaring that 2025 was the year when AI’s power “roared into view”, Time captured a point of no return.

The age of thinking machines has arrived, and it is already reshaping the foundations of modern life. Since its inception in 1927, Time’s Person of the Year has never been about celebration alone. It has chronicled influence-forces that define their era for better or worse. From Franklin D Roosevelt to transformative movements, scientists, and political leaders, the cover has reflected shifts in global power. Indians have appeared only rarely: Mahatma Gandhi in 1930, during the moral peak of India’s freedom struggle, and later Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reflecting India’s growing........

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