TIME Left Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Off Its 100 Most Influential People in AI List — But Paris Hilton and Ben Affleck Made the Cut

Artificial intelligence (AI) has officially entered its pink-and-glam era.

TIME’s 2026 list of the 100 most influential people in AI includes Paris Hilton, the early-2000s socialite and businesswoman best known for helping define the era of Juicy Couture, tiny dogs, and “That’s hot.” The list also includes actor Ben Affleck, who made the list for his work building AI tools for Hollywood.

Missing from the list? Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang.

For investors, that’s a much stranger omission than it might sound at first.

Huang isn’t just another technology executive riding the AI wave. He co-founded Nvidia and has led the chipmaker for more than three decades. Nvidia’s GPUs have become some of the most important pieces of infrastructure behind the AI boom, powering the training and operation of many of today’s leading AI models.

This isn’t Huang’s first TIME rodeo, either. He appeared on the magazine’s AI 100 list in 2023, 2024 and 2025. This year, however, his name is nowhere to be found.

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Meanwhile, Hilton earned a spot as a “Shaper” for her advocacy around AI-generated deepfakes and nonconsensual explicit imagery. Affleck landed on the list after founding InterPositive, an AI startup focused on tools for filmmakers. Netflix (NFLX) acquired the company earlier this year for approximately $587 million, and Affleck joined the streamer as a senior advisor.

So yes, the woman who helped make “That’s hot” a catchphrase and the star of "Argo” are both on TIME’s list.

The CEO whose company sits at the center of the AI infrastructure boom isn’t.

The AI List Isn’t an Investor Scorecard

That doesn’t necessarily mean TIME considers Hilton or Affleck more important to the AI economy than Huang.

The list isn’t a ranking of the companies making the most money from AI or the executives controlling the most valuable AI infrastructure. TIME’s selections span researchers, executives, artists, activists, and other figures shaping how artificial intelligence is developed and used.

Hilton’s inclusion reflects the growing fight over AI-generated deepfakes. Affleck’s inclusion recognizes a different side of the technology — using AI in film production without handing over creative control to a machine.

Huang’s influence is simply easier to see on a balance sheet.

Nvidia’s AI Influence Didn’t Disappear

Nvidia has transformed from a company best known for graphics cards into a critical supplier for the AI industry.

Its data-center business has exploded as cloud providers and technology companies have poured billions into AI infrastructure. That spending has helped make Nvidia one of the world’s most valuable companies and turned Huang into one of the most recognizable figures in the technology industry.

TIME has acknowledged that influence before. Huang appeared on its AI list for three consecutive years, with the magazine highlighting Nvidia’s central role in providing the hardware needed to train AI models.

His 2026 omission doesn’t change any of that.

It does, however, show how difficult it is to capture AI’s influence with a single list. The technology now stretches well beyond chips and chatbots, reaching Hollywood production, online safety, entertainment, and even the world of Paris Hilton.

Even Elon Musk Has Been Left Off the List

Huang isn’t the first major AI figure to find himself on the outside looking in.

Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) CEO Elon Musk was included on TIME’s inaugural AI list in 2023 but was left off the 2024 edition, even as other high-profile figures made the cut. He returned to the list in 2025.

That history is a useful reminder that TIME’s list isn’t a permanent hall of fame. Its choices can shift with the conversation around AI.

For Nvidia investors, the more important list remains the one buried in the company’s financial statements.

Revenue. Data-center demand. Margins. Capital spending by the biggest AI companies.

Those numbers don’t care whether Jensen Huang made the cover.

On the date of publication, Caleb Naysmith did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.