Posted on 12/13/2025 9:00:50 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Time magazine is facing backlash from one of conservative media’s biggest voices over its decision to snub Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk as its “Person of the Year” despite Kirk’s death marking the first major political assassination in the U.S. since the 1960s.
Instead, the century-old magazine gave its annual award to a collective of tech titans leading the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, framing the year as a tipping point when the technology "roared into view" with irreversible momentum.
Time's announcement, unveiled Thursday, celebrated the "Architects of AI" as the magazine's 2025 honorees, with a reimagined version of the iconic 1930s photograph "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" as its cover art. Replacing the classic photo’s hard-hatted construction workers were eight suited tech leaders perched on a beam overlooking New York City: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, founder of World Labs.
Time also shared an alternate cover image on social media, featuring towering "AI" letters wrapped in scaffolding that resembled digital wiring, along with the caption, "For delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity, for transforming the present and transcending the possible, the Architects of AI are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year.”
Editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs defended the unconventional group pick Thursday in an explanatory essay, noting Time's tradition of straying from individuals when warranted. "We’ve named not just individuals but also groups, more women than our founders could have imagined (though still not enough), and, on rare occasions, a concept: the endangered Earth, in 1988, or the personal computer, in 1982," Jacobs wrote.
This year's choice, Jacobs argued, spotlights "the individuals who imagined, designed, and built AI" rather than the tech itself, noting the undeniable parallels between the rise of AI and the advent of the personal computer in the early 1980s.
"This was the year when artificial intelligence’s full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back or opting out," he wrote.
Time, acquired in 2018 by Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff — who has dubbed AI "probably the most important" tech wave of his lifetime — insisted Benioff stays out of editorial calls. The tradition, dating to 1927, honors whoever "most shaped headlines over the previous 12 months."
Prediction markets had pegged AI — along with Huang and Altman — as frontrunners, but Kirk's name loomed large in conservative circles, out-Googling even Trump, the 2024 winner who succeeded Taylor Swift. Other contenders included Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff elected after Pope Francis' death; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
In an on-air tirade on Thursday’s episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the veteran journalist and podcaster unleashed on Time magazine's decision, slamming the choice as "a thumb in the eye, and it's genuinely wrong," accusing the publication of ignoring "reality based on your own politics."
"It's [expletive] AI. It's AI architects. It's not Charlie Kirk, which is so obvious," said Kelly. "It's as obvious as the nose on your face."
Pointing to Time’s previous controversial choices for Person of the Year, including Vladimir Putin and Ayatollah Khomeini, Kelly accused the media outlet of playing politics.
“AI architects are not the most influential people of the year,” she said. “To ignore what happened with Charlie Kirk in September and the worldwide revival of faith that followed his assassination is to ignore reality based on your own politics.”
The snub, coming just three months after Kirk's shocking assassination on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, raised even more questions because Kirk wasn’t even listed as an “honorable mention,” said Kelly.
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AI architects? Hang Lo and Kumar, the coders in Asian tech sweatshops are hardly architects.
Time and Newsweek deserved to become extinct a long time ago.
Lying, deceitful PC biased cretins run them.
The POY is not a memorial award. Charlie’s murder is certainly one of the biggest stories of the year, but no.
TIME should have recognized Charlie AND Erika Kirk as “Couple of the Year”
Charlie Kirk was in love with his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You think Charlie would actually care what Time Magazine thinks? Charlie Kirk got the Wonderful recognition he desired when he heard “Well done my good and faithful servant!”. I pray I can walk and desire Jesus, just like Charlie Kirk did!
We don’t do stuff to have the world give us their awards.
In fact if they do, we’re probably doing something wrong.
100% agree. In the long term, AI>> Charlie. RIP.
AI is totally deserving. Without them I’d never have believed a gorilla could rice a Harley on a tightwire 1000 feet above ground then jump and land with just an umbrella.
Screw Time Magazine. They’re screwing humanity, but they won’t realize it, let alone admit it.
>> In the long term, AI>> Charlie. RIP.
You don’t believe in Jesus, do you? Or in GOD. Or in eternity.
That’s a shame.
Hang Lo, AI, and Kumar,
Comin' for the 'puter in my home!
Hang Lo, AI, and Kumar,
Comin' for the 'puter in my home!
I looked at Time, and what did I see,
Comin' for the 'puter in my home?
A band of coders comin' after me,
Comin' for the 'puter in my home.
Hang Lo....
Supposedly, the criteria for the person of the year is the biggest newsmaker, the person who had the biggest impact on the news , for good or bad.
Based on that, in 2001, an obvious choice would have been Bin Laden. But because so many people perceive this man of the year , or person of the year , as some kind of award, there’s no way that the publishers of Time would have given the recognition to Bin Laden.
Of course an AI machine would pick itself, in between generating all the photos and text. The human Dentist Time magazine DNC operatives might as well be sitting on a beach in the Cayman Islands right now, enjoying the taxpayer NGO "My Democracy" millions.
>> Hang Lo, AI, and Kumar,
Sung to the tune of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’...
Wow. That’s GOOD! Amen!
FRegards & Blessings!
I wouldn’t know unless it was posted. I haven’t read those two rags in decades.
People like Kelly never cease to amaze me. Nicolas Maduro has a better chance being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year than Charlie Kirk ever did. People who should know better continue to under-estimate the entrenched left’s virulent hatred of God and Country.
The human editors were going to pick Charlie. But, when they used AI to write the article, suddenly the AI architects were the subject.
Considering how they had an Islamic communist and a dhimmi socialist in the running (Mamdani and Pope Leo) I’d consider their going with potential SkyNet an overall win.
Slime magazine hasn’t been relevant for a very long time, who cares what the socialist writing for it think?
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