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AI has minted a new power structure. A handful of private companies command the might and wealth of small nation-states and are mostly left alone to self-govern. A few hundred employees are on the brink of becoming centimillionaires and considering which causes and presidential candidates they will funnel their vast resources toward.
One way to tell the story of how AI is changing our world is through some newly familiar names: Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Jensen Huang. But an astonishing amount of power rests in the hands of a few dozen other people, some virtually anonymous.
For this year’s annual “Power” issue, we are surfacing 26 people whose influence on the AI landscape far outstrips their fame.
We partnered with @ReadTransformer, a publication with a command of the politics within transformative AI, whose team drew on its years of reporting, as well as new interviews with more than 50 high-ranking industry leaders, to help articulate what makes these people powerful.
The AI scene is small. Many are remarkably intertwined, sharing offices, homes, and funding. The list’s average age is 36. It is also overwhelmingly male. Read about the few dozen power brokers who will decide how AI shakes out, refashioning the world for the rest of us in the process: nymag.visitlink.me/AgEtqI
With ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ stomping into theaters, it’s time to rank the King of the Monster’s last 50 years or so of city smashing. vulture.com/article/every-go…
Our deals editor found the best sales online today, including Sephora’s Savings Event and extra-early Black Friday deals at Nordstrom. thecut.com/article/sale-cb2-…
‘Everytime’ is a spectacular, strange movie about mourning and digital ghosts. Sandra Wollner’s new film follows the people left behind after the accidental death of a teenage girl. vulture.com/article/review-e…
Meghan Markle’s father was arrested by the FBI in Florida on Friday and charged with one count of possession of child pornography. thecut.com/article/thomas-ma…
So far, Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris, has filed two objections to the estate’s claims about where her money from her father’s trust has been going. Here’s how we got here. vulture.com/article/michael-…
Heart’s Ann Wilson career has spanned decades, but it took a while to figure out the band’s forte. “I’ve always loved a good power ballad. I realized that if I sang with rage, it made the song completely different.” vulture.com/article/ann-wils…
Most people know Steve Kornacki, NBC’s chief data analyst, as the white-shirt-and-khakis, nerdy-sexy stat guy who meticulously breaks down poll results on Election Night. He also makes regular appearances on the network’s sports broadcasts — as he did this past weekend at the Breeders’ Cup — but despite his weekly presence on the network’s Sunday-night NFL coverage, Election Day is Kornacki’s real Super Bowl. (This year, he live-streamed updates for over ten hours straight courtesy of the “Kornacki Cam,” amassing a record 29 million views.)
Having spent over a decade covering politics, Kornacki has developed a strict Election Night routine that purposely excludes food. “I read a biography of Red Auerbach, the legendary Boston Celtics coach, many years ago,” says Kornacki, who grew up in the Boston area. “He never ate on a game day because he believed that it took his edge off. That’s stuck with me through the years.”
Read Kornacki’s election-prep Grub Street Diet: nymag.visitlink.me/8-pX6f
Former Bond man Pierce Brosnan stars as the host of a party in the English countryside in the British label’s holiday campaign. thecut.com/article/burberrys…
Slayyyter’s latest track ‘Hey Boyyy’ is a violent and bombastic pop banger about a crush gone obsessive. vulture.com/article/slayyyte…
Marine Rose, a cult-favorite British Jamaican designer, will be the first woman to lead Balenciaga in its 109-year history and the second Black woman to lead a major European fashion house. thecut.com/article/who-is-ma…
Netflix announced that ‘Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure’ is coming in 2028, featuring a new era and new crew of characters. vulture.com/article/other-wo…
Our favorite late-night moment of the week? Gabby Windey educating Seth Meyers with lesbian biology facts. Here’s what else we liked. vulture.com/article/gabby-wi…
Martha Stewart apologized again for her ‘tone-deaf’ decision to dress as an unhoused person for Halloween. This time, she also made amends with Craig Melvin, whom she had tried to blame for her bad costume. thecut.com/article/martha-st…
Parents say their children got severe rashes and blisters after wearing Millie Moon diapers, The Cut’s Erica Schwiegershausen reports. thecut.com/article/parents-m…
Comedian Chloe Petts’s team during this season of ‘Taskmaster’ drove them ‘absolutely mad’ during filming. Now they say they wish they could relive it all. vulture.com/article/taskmast…
The midterm wave wasn’t powered by love. Having decisively won so-called ‘double hater’ voters in a referendum on Trump, Democrats need to pivot to keep winning them over, Ed Kilgore writes. nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…
Nithya Raman, the newly elected member of Los Angeles City Council, is an urban planner with fresh ideas about housing, transportation, zoning, and cities. curbed.com/2026/11/nithya-ra…
‘It Gets Worse,’ Leo Reich’s cynical and sharp treatise on the state of the supposed Gen-Z sex recession (among other messy 20-something drama) is finally stateside. thecut.com/article/it-gets-w…
Do yourself a favor and see Zhang Yimou’s ‘Raise the Red Lantern,’ one of the greatest of films, which has been restored and is being rereleased in theaters. vulture.com/article/do-yours…
The title of Rod Blagojevich’s upcoming memoir, ‘Framed, F*cked, and Freed,’ is a defiant summation of his attitude toward his past legal woes. “I feel like I got cheated,” he says. In November 2008, the former Illinois governor was caught on an FBI wiretap seemingly making plans to profit from Barack Obama’s recently vacated U.S. Senate seat.
Blagojevich maintains that he was framed. Jurors disagreed, and Michael Madigan, the Speaker of the Illinois house of representatives at the time, rushed to impeach him. The move ensured that, no matter the outcome of his legal case, Blagojevich could never hold state-level office again.
This remains an especially sore subject because the convictions didn’t all hold up. Then–U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald’s conviction of him for trying to “sell” Obama’s Senate seat was overturned in 2015. Another charge, for seeking campaign contributions in exchange for approving funding for a children’s hospital, was upheld. (Blagojevich denies wrongdoing in both instances.) In February 2020, almost eight years into his sentence, Blagojevich was “freed” by President Donald Trump, who had taken a liking to him when he competed on ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ while out on bail. “You get me out of jail, you get my vote,” he says.
Another problem for Blagojevich is his family wants him nowhere near public office again. “I don’t see a day where my family will ever be onboard — but I’m not giving up!”
Zak Cheney-Rice speaks with the disgraced former governor about what’s next: nymag.visitlink.me/eHjJLT
