From Sarvam’s Vivek Raghavan to IBM’s Arvind Krishna: 10 Indians named among TIME’s most influential AI leaders in 2026

TIME Magazine has released a detailed list of the 100 most influential people in Artificial Intelligence (AI), mentioning individuals who have left a lasting impact in the area. Among several names from the industry, over 10 Indian leaders and Indian-origin leaders have been featured, including Sarvam AI co-founder Vivek Raghavan, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, and Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, among others.

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TIME100 most influential Indians in AI 2026

Among technology and business leaders, Arvind Krishna, CEO and Chairman of IBM, Micron’s Chairman, President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, and Cognizant’s CEO Ravi Kumar S got a mention in the list.

For AI safety and standards, Arvind Raman of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) got a mention. He is described as working on AI safety standards and frameworks, essentially helping establish rules and standards for developing AI responsibly.

Vivek Raghavan, Co-founder of Sarvam AI, and Utkarsh Saxena, Co-founder and CEO of Adalat AI, also got a mention for building AI products designed specifically for Indian languages and India's legal system.

Among academic researchers, Anima Anandkumar, a Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and Suchi Saria, Founder and CEO of Bayesian Health and a professor, got a mention for their work involves using AI for scientific modelling and early disease detection.

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For AI governance and advocacy, Sunny Gandhi, Co-Executive Director of Encode, and Meetali Jain, Executive Director of Tech Justice Law Project, are described as advocating for responsible AI governance, youth participation, and legal accountability.

TIME magazine highlighted that the TIME100 AI 2026 list was compiled by TIME journalists along with people from the AI industry, listing 100 individuals who best represent the major AI developments of the year. TIME says these individuals were chosen because they are considered to have the greatest influence on the direction of AI and its major developments.