Beating AI News - TIME has released the 2026 TIME100 AI list, marking the fourth edition of this ranking of influential figures in AI. Last year, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and DeepSeek CEO Liang Wenfeng were included in the 'Leaders' category, but neither made the list this year. Yang Zhilin from Moonlight Dark Side has made his debut in the 'Innovators' category. TIME's editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs specifically highlighted him, stating that the model from Moonlight Dark Side has received 'extraordinary attention' over the past year, sometimes even surpassing the most advanced competitors in the U.S. This year's 'Leaders' category features Sam Altman, Mark Chen, and Greg Brockman from OpenAI, as well as Dario and Daniela Amodei from Anthropic. Among Chinese companies, individuals from ByteDance, Alibaba, Huawei, SMIC, Moonlight Dark Side, Zhipu AI, Manus, Zhiyuan Robotics, and BYD are recognized. Many new faces this year include entrepreneurs from Agent and AI tools. Michael Truell, CEO of Cursor, Peter Steinberger, author of OpenClaw, and Xiao Hong, founder of Manus, are all included in the 'Innovators' category. Perhaps the most surprising inclusion is Ben Affleck. The Hollywood actor, known for playing Batman, is also listed as an 'Innovator.' His company, InterPositive, uses AI for film post-production. In March of this year, Netflix acquired it, later disclosing a cash purchase price of approximately $587 million, and Affleck has joined Netflix as a senior advisor.