Indian Leaders Dominate TIME's Most Influential AI List for 2026
TIME Magazine has released its list of the 100 most influential people in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for 2026, and 10 Indian leaders have made the cut. Among them are Sarvam AI co-founder Vivek Raghavan, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, and Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.
Arvind Krishna, who is also Chairman of IBM, was recognized for his contributions to AI development. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researcher Arvind Raman was also listed for his work on AI safety standards and frameworks. This includes establishing rules and standards for developing AI responsibly.
Other Indian leaders featured in the list include Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S, Utkarsh Saxena, Co-founder and CEO of Adalat AI, and Anima Anandkumar, a Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences. Suchi Saria, Founder and CEO of Bayesian Health and a professor, was also recognized for her work using AI for scientific modeling and early disease detection.
The list was compiled by TIME journalists along with people from the AI industry, who chose individuals they considered to have the greatest influence on the direction of AI. The selected individuals were highlighted as having made significant contributions to major AI developments in 2026.