Time magazine revealed the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence with its third annual TIME100 AI list on Thursday, and some notable tech leaders with Seattle and Pacific Northwest roots made the cut.
They include:
- Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO: Time credits Jassy for the Seattle-based tech giant’s major push into AI with multiple AI products and services, from its Amazon Nova suite of foundation models to the AI-powered robots in its warehouses. Jassy previously made the cover of Times “100 Most Influential Companies” issue in 2022.
- Jeff Leek, Fred Hutch Cancer Center VP and chief data officer: Time says Leek and his team are seeking to enable AI-supported discovery of cancer treatments through the Cancer AI Alliance, a first-of-its-kind partnership between leading cancer care centers and major tech partners.
- Yejin Choi, former University of Washington professor: A leading researcher in natural language processing and now a computer science professor at Stanford University, Choi left the UW and Allen Institute for AI last year. A 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Choi previously spoke to GeekWire about such topics as whether AI can be sentient and about a neural network project at UW to combat disinformation.
- Jeffrey Dean, chief scientist, Google: With a masters and doctorate in computer science from the UW, Dean is called “a quiet legend in the world of AI” by Time, which says he “helped turn Google from a tiny startup into a computational behemoth, building tools crucial for processing huge quantities of data across thousands of machines.”
- Peggy Johnson, Agility Robotics CEO: A former Microsoft exec, Johnson has been leading Salem, Ore.-based Agility for the past year. Johnson told Time that AI “supercharged” its existing expertise in robotics fundamentals. The company, which makes the Digit bipedal humanoid warehouse robot, reportedly raised $400 million earlier this year, and Amazon is a big investor.
- Navrina Singh, founder and CEO, Credo AI: The former principal product manager for Microsoft AI founded Credo AI in 2020 “as a cloud-based governance platform that helps businesses manage their generative AI risk with tools to detect issues like security gaps, compliance snags, or deep bias,” according to Time. Singh has sat on the U.S. Department of Commerce National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee since 2022.
Time said it assembled its list of “100 leaders, innovators, shapers, and thinkers who are building our AI future” after months of researching candidates, including soliciting recommendations from industry leaders and expert sources.
Other notable names on the list include Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Pope Leo XIV.
Related:
- Seattle is a global AI hub — but where are the superstar startups?
- Can Seattle own the AI era? We asked 20 investors and founders to weigh the city’s startup potential
