A collage of the Indian-origin people on the TIME100 AI 2025.
Credit: Time website
Time has released the list for 2025's most influential people in the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape, and their contribution to machine learning research for the future of AI has been termed ground-breaking by many.
As AI continues to grow, this year features six names from the Indian subcontinent, or the diaspora and their contribution towards utilising AI for understanding the way sectors and algorithms work.
Ravi Kumar S, the chief executive officer of Cognizant, has been featured on the list for excellent leadership and the company's commitment in the field of AI literacy. Cognizant had conducted the world's largest vibe coding event and saw over 30,000 projects submitted from 40 countries. he has been with the company since 2023, and has worked with Infosys and Oracle in the past. He advocates for the factor that AI will democratize talent and expand reaches of access, instead of eliminating professions altogether.
Maithra Raghu is the founder of Samaya AI, and focuses on using AI for analysing the trades and techniques of the finance industry. The startup has worked with giants like Meta, Amazon, and Google Brain. They have also worked with the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. "Financial services as an information ecosystem has blown up exponentially—the types of investments people can make, the types of assets available," she shared with Time. "Most importantly, the kinds of sources and reporting and insights on the global market have just grown so much," she said, saying how they are all interconnected.
Navrina Singh is the founder of Credo AI, and she said the vision of her company is to give 'businesses visibility into their systems’ failures.' In the past year, as Time shares, they have quadrupled their revenue and doubled their customer base. They have worked extensively on risks posed by generative AI and tools to counter them, such as deep bias and security aspects, while also tackling AI hallucinations.
Priya Donti, a co-founder of Climate Change AI, is changing the way people look at machine learning and climate change solutions going hand-in-hand. "Empowering people to be equipped to use AI where it’s helpful to accelerate their work, is hugely important," she said to Time. She believes that new algorithm designs are not one needs to focus on, but the technique of adoption. She works as an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. She and her team focus on forecasting, optimization, and control in high-renewables power grids using machine learning.
Mitesh Khapra's unique focus on AI for language recognition and translation. His research lab, AI4Bharat, has been affiliated with Bhashini program for citizens to access digital services, and the technology is also used by the Supreme Court to translate reports and documents, while also providing voices for bots through which reginal farmers can report issues. "15 years back, an average PhD student in India working on language technology would end up working on English problems, with these datasets available, I see a shift: now Indian students are working on Indian problems," Time reported. He says, as his latest project is to develop India's first foundation model, that though it may underperform, the reliance on the Western alternatives may start to slow down
Abhishek Singh, with 30 years of civil services, is bringing the country to technological strengths as he spearheads the IndiaAI Mission. By ensuring AI ethics, helping AI startups grow, and technical expertise, Singh seeks to build India's AI ecosystem and take it to a global level through the mission's determination and government support. He emphasizes on delivery of services to 500 million citizens who have lesser access to the online space, and transform the Indian digital space using voice technology. "A farmer should be able to call a toll-free number and ask ‘What should I do for my crop?" in a strong statement made on Time.
As the annual TIME100 AI 2025 describes the innovators, shapers, thinker, and leaders of the Artificial Intelligence sector, acknowledging its growing importance in terms of leveraging, adapting, and developing techniques for growth, people of Indian origin reflect the nation's determination in bringing itself to the forefront of the landscape, a win by the people, of the people, for the people.