--- title: Yejin Choi: The 100 Most Influential People in AI 2025 description: Find out why Yejin Choi made TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/7305803/yejin-choi/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-08-26T19:51:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T11:54:40.849Z article:section: Business og:title: TIME100 AI 2025: Yejin Choi og:description: Find out why Yejin Choi made TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/7305803/yejin-choi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63ec6b5b7f85e28f/6998c92fd32e936758cd744e/Yejin-Choi-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME100 AI 2025: Yejin Choi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TIME100 AI 2025: Yejin Choi twitter:description: Find out why Yejin Choi made TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63ec6b5b7f85e28f/6998c92fd32e936758cd744e/Yejin-Choi-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 26, 2025 # Yejin Choi Senior Fellow, Stanford HAI by [Natasha Frost](https://time.com/author/natasha-frost/) ## Natasha Frost  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Courtesy Photo) If the human brain runs on less power than an incandescent light bulb, surely AI can, too. "The current narrative is that larger is better," says Yejin Choi, a leading researcher in natural language processing and computer science professor at Stanford University, of large language models like ChatGPT. But our own efficient minds are “living proof” that a path away from pouring billions into ever-larger models is possible, Choi tells TIME. A former MacArthur genius grant recipient known for her work on AI's understanding of common sense, Choi joined the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) in January to explore alternatives to expensive, energy-hungry LLMs. Small language models, or SLMs, are cheaper and more power-efficient—and, she points out, more equitable, as they prevent a future where the largest and most powerful players retain control of the field. Once a science-loving schoolgirl in South Korea, Choi became a researcher interested in the human outcomes of AI. (Another of her ongoing research projects: "pluralistic alignment," or ensuring AI serves diverse viewpoints, rather than homogenizing human thought.) “Part of my mission,” she says, “is somehow using AI to make humanity better, as opposed to making AI for the sake of making AI better.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/7305803/yejin-choi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/7305803/yejin-choi/"},"headline":"Yejin Choi","datePublished":"2025-08-26T19:51:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:40.849Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/7305803/yejin-choi/","keywords":["Tech","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","TIME100 AI 2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63ec6b5b7f85e28f/6998c92fd32e936758cd744e/Yejin-Choi-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Natasha Frost","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/natasha-frost/"}],"creator":"Natasha Frost","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63ec6b5b7f85e28f/6998c92fd32e936758cd744e/Yejin-Choi-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/7305803/yejin-choi/","name":"Yejin Choi"}}]}] ```