Lila Ibrahim

Being named to the TIME100 AI list in 2026 put Ibrahim in a group of 100 people TIME considers most influential in artificial intelligence, alongside researchers, founders and policymakers. What makes her placement distinctive is the job that earned it: she is not a model-builder or a founder but the executive responsible for getting the world ready for the technology. She was DeepMind's first COO in 2018 and became Google DeepMind's first Chief AI Readiness Officer in January 2026, meaning she has held two roles that did not previously exist at one of the most closely watched AI labs on earth.