AI needs to be governed wisely to ensure that it is beneficial for future of humanity

Time magazine's decision to name the "Architects of AI" as its 2025 Person of the Year is both symbolic and revealing. By honoring a collective rather than a single individual for the advance of artificial intelligence, the magazine has underscored that the technology is no longer driven by a handful of pioneers, but a systemic force transforming the world.

Significantly, among those recognized are not only the CEOs of large Chinese enterprises such as Baidu's Robin Li, but also those from start-ups such as AgiBot co-founder Peng Zhihui and MiniMax CEO Yan Junjie, whose inclusion reflects the country's increasingly prominent role in global AI development. While the cover features many familiar Western faces from companies such as Nvidia and AMD, the presence of the Chinese entrepreneurs behind major AI players such as DeepSeek and other AI companies, such as StepFun, Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, 01.AI and Baichuan AI, illustrates the globalized nature of AI innovation. The AI era is not being built by one country alone, but through parallel advances across different markets, cultures and regulatory environments.

This recognition comes at a moment when AI has become a functional general purpose technology like the internet. Its influence today extends well beyond faster computing or smarter software; it is redefining how societies operate in many fields. While AI lowers entry barriers in some sectors, it has also created new divides — in computing power, data access, algorithms and institutional capacity. The ability to build a reliable AI ecosystem is becoming a new watershed in national development capability.