https://nypost.com/2024/09/06/business/time-snubs-elon-musk-from-100-most-influential-people-in-ai/Time snubbed tech titan and artificial intelligence backer Elon Musk from its annual list of the “100 Most Influential People in AI” – but slapped actress Scarlett Johansson on this year’s cover.
The magazine created a composite image for its 2024 cover showing the photos of 18 AI leaders, topped by Nvidia boss Jensen Huang that also prominently featured the “Black Widow” star.
The second annual TIME100 AI edition, released Thursday, also highlighted leading CEOs, including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, as well as founders and influencers in the fast-growing field.
Yet Musk, who launched xAI last summer and its chatbot Grok has gained traction against rivals like ChatGPT, was conspicuously absent from its pages.
The century-old magazine is now owned by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, whose software company has been a major investor in AI startup Anthropic, creating a $500 million AI fund to back emerging companies.
“Disclosures are included throughout the TIME100 AI list for any companies mentioned that are backed by Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Salesforce, where TIME’s owner and co-chair, is CEO,” a Time spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
Time’s head-scratching decision to snub the Tesla and SpaceX founder led to an uproar on social media.
“Every person on this top 100 list if asked would say Elon should be on this list,” one user posted on X.
Another user said the affront was proof of Time’s “bias and lack of integrity” and “their personal vendetta against him.”
The billionaire founded Neuralink in 2016, which made headlines early this year when it successfully implanted a brain chip in a paralyzed patient, allowing him to browse the web and play Internet games with his mind.
