Jimmy Kimmel takes aim at Elon Musk over Time’s AI Person of the Year honour

Jimmy Kimmel is taking shots at Elon Musk and Time magazine for honouring the Twitter boss as among the AI-focused 2025 Person of the Year and “Architects of AI.”

The late-night host passed his remarks on Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! as he dramatically unveiled the magazine's cover, which features eight leading tech figures, including Musk, Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg.

“The eight dorks of the apocalypse,” Kimmel mocked as the audience booed.

Kimmel slammed the title itself, questioning whether it was wise to celebrate “architects” who admit they don’t fully understand how their creations might behave. 

He also pointed out the irony of praising figures often blamed for automating jobs out of existence. “The people who replaced people are Person of the Year,” he quipped.

Turning to the artwork, Kimmel took another swipe, joking that despite all the advances in AI, the cover looked like “Photoshop from 2007.” 

Time later said the illustration was a modern tribute to a famous 1932 photo of construction workers high above New York City.

The segment also reignited Kimmel’s feud with Musk, who once called him an “insufferable nonsense propaganda puppet” on X. 

Kimmel embraced the insult and unveiled a mock graphic built around the phrase to fire back, saying Musk himself runs “a literal propaganda machine.”

Kimmel closed the segment with a final jab, quoting Donald Trump mocking Musk’s use of government subsidies and joking that the two would be a perfect pair.