TIME names MIT Open Learning’s Cynthia Breazeal one of the “100 Most Influential People in AI”

This morning, TIME named Cynthia Breazeal, dean for digital learning at MIT Open Learning and director of MIT RAISE, to its 2025 list of the 100 most influential people in AI. She joins fellow MIT faculty Priya Donti and Regina Barzilay, alongside leaders like Sam Altman, top scientists, government officials, and Pope Leo XIV.

Breazeal SM ’93, ScD ’00 is a professor of media arts and sciences at MIT. She founded and directs the Personal Robots group in the MIT Media Lab, as well as the MIT-wide Initiative on Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE). The RAISE team works with kids to prepare them for an AI-powered future.

Breazeal is acutely aware of how design decisions shape our relationship to technology: nearly 30 years ago, her research on human-machine interaction helped to launch the field of social robotics. Her hope is that equipping the next generation with a deep understanding of how design impacts experience will enable them to build safe, pro-social tech. “We are deeply social, emotional, cognitive, multidimensional creatures,” she says. “The more that we can design technologies that support all of us, the more deeply we can engage, and not surprisingly, the more successful we are.” — TIME

Learn more about Breazeal’s recognition, and see the full TIME100 AI 2025 list.

Adapted from an MIT RAISE announcement.

TIME names MIT Open Learning’s Cynthia Breazeal one of the “100 Most Influential People in AI” was originally published in MIT Open Learning on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.