AI has become a chicken/egg dilemma for me. What came first, stupid people who needed AI to do their work for them, or did AI make people dumber? Beyond the Terminator-esque “rise of the machines” aspect of all of this, the economics of AI make little sense to me, and it feels like one big scam. But I guess no one can deny that 2025 was the year where AI was suddenly everywhere and the biggest hot-button conversation. As such, Time Magazine made “the architects of AI” their Person of the Year. The opening to the POTY story reads like satire:
Jensen Huang needs a moment. The CEO of Nvidia enters a cavernous studio at the company’s Bay Area headquarters and hunches over a table, his head bowed.
At 62, the world’s eighth richest man is compact, polished, and known among colleagues for his quick temper as well as his visionary leadership. Right now, he looks exhausted. As he stands silently, it’s hard to know if he’s about to erupt or collapse.
Then someone puts on a Spotify playlist and the stirring chords of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” fill the room. Huang puts on his trademark black leather jacket and appears to transform, donning not just the uniform, but also the body language and optimism befitting one of the foremost leaders of the artificial intelligence revolution.
Still, he’s got to be tired. Not too long ago, the former engineer ran a successful but semi-obscure outfit that specialized in graphics processors for video games. Today, Nvidia is the most valuable company in the world, thanks to a near-monopoly on the advanced chips powering an AI boom that is transforming the planet. Memes depict Nvidia as Atlas, holding the stock market on its shoulders. More than just a corporate juggernaut, Nvidia also has become an instrument of statecraft, operating at the nexus of advanced technology, diplomacy, and geopolitics. “You’re taking over the world, Jensen,” President Donald Trump, now a regular late-night phone buddy, told Huang during a recent state visit to the United Kingdom.
I still believe that other billionaires/tech guys saw what Elon Musk did last year and it was a light-bulb moment for them: oh, we could manipulate Donald Trump too, we could ingratiate ourselves with these morons and clear the path to get everything we want. And that’s just what they did.
Within the cover story, Huang tells Time: “Every industry needs it, every company uses it, and every nation needs to build it. This is the single most impactful technology of our time.” Bitch, it’s not the space race. It’s not nuclear proliferation! You’re not even making Peanut Butter M&Ms, calm down. Every industry does NOT need it, every company should NOT use it, and few nations have a need for it.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, covers courtesy of Time.
