OpenAI CEO Sam Altman becomes Vanity Fair's most powerful man

Vanity Fair magazine published a list of the 50 most influential people in the world. It has been published since 1994 and is designed to “identify people who have influenced the course of events – from the information age to the collapse of the high-tech dot-com bubble, from the financial crisis to the rise of social media.”.

First place in the ranking of this year was taken by the head of OpenAI Sam Altman. “Perhaps one day Altman will be considered the Oppenheimer of our time – the man who alone determines the reality in which we live,” the authors of the ranking explained their choice in favor of the person who heads the company that developed the chatbot ChatGPT, which revolutionized the market for modern AI systems.

In addition to Sam Altman, the top 5 rankings include three more representatives of the high-tech industry – CEO of Anthropic AI Corporation Dario Amodei (2nd place), Elon Musk (3rd place) and the head of Nvidia Jensen Huang (4th place). The only person in the top 5 not working in the high-tech industry was the head of the US Federal Reserve Kevin Warsh (5th place).

The vast majority of people in the Vanity Fair ranking are Americans: politicians, corporate heads, TV presenters. In 18th place is Pope Leo XIV, who is also an American. 24th place is occupied by Abu Dhabi sovereign investment fund manager Sheikh Tanun bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In 26th place – British and American film director Christopher Nolan.

The rating is closed by the widow of the murdered far-right American activist Charlie Kirk Eric Kirk, who, according to the authors of the rating, successfully continues her husband’s political activities within the conservative MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.

Eugene Hvostik