Here are the 11 most consequential media and technology figures of 2023 — and the six losers

Sam Altman: Most of the world had no thought who Altman was at the finish of final 12 months. But in only one journey round the solar, the OpenAI founder has turn out to be one of the most watched executives in the world. The technology powering his agency’s ChatGPT device has enthralled the public, thrilling Wall Street, upending Silicon Valley, gridlocking Hollywood, and sending some very scary jitters down the spines of observers throughout the seven continents. That is why the current boardroom drama at OpenAI prompted a cascade of headlines. And it’s why world leaders have held pressing conferences about the quickly advancing technology enabling synthetic intelligence. It just isn’t an understatement to say that the choices Altman makes as OpenAI boss would possibly very nicely restrict or speed up an existential menace to the human race.

Taylor Swift: The generational expertise is in a league of her personal. Swift commanded the world’s consideration all through the 12 months, dropping music that instantly turned the soundtracks to our lives, crisscrossing the nation on her acclaimed “Eras Tour,” releasing a smash hit live performance movie for many who couldn’t attend in individual (or needed to re-live the magic of her enchanting performances), juicing the NFL’s scores and a lot extra. She was such a drive that the Federal Reserve really credited her for reinforcing the financial system. In TIME’s piece crowning her as the 2023 individual of the 12 months, Sam Lansky stated it greatest, declaring that Swift “became the main character of the world” in 2023. It’s laborious to disagree with that.

Elon Musk: The world’s richest man definitely tried his greatest to be the foremost character of the world, however as an alternative of going about it by creating alluring artwork and uplifting others, Musk selected to take action by self-immolating earlier than the public. Musk was the focus of an immeasurable quantity of headlines for his embrace of deranged — and at occasions hateful — conspiracy theories, ugly assaults on the Anti-Defamation League and figures like George Soros, repeated smearing of the press, and the elevating of harmful extremist figures on his social media platform, X. The appalling conduct led to a crippling advertiser exodus from X, one which threatens to place the firm out of enterprise, in keeping with Musk himself. Regardless of whether or not that occurs, Musk efficiently killed the web site as soon as often known as Twitter, taking from the world what was as soon as an essential communications platform.

David Zaslav: He may be a newcomer to Hollywood, however Zaslav has not been shy about shaking issues up. The Warner Bros. Discovery boss continued to buck institution considering in 2023 and led the method on a number of fronts as the media panorama shifted beneath everybody’s ft. Zaslav launched the Max streaming service, uniting all of WBD’s storied manufacturers and content material below a single roof, providing customers a streaming choice that resembled the conventional bundle. And Zaslav has thought creatively to generate income, together with licensing HBO content material to Netflix, a as soon as inconceivable transfer. Zaslav’s daring considering has been mimicked by some of his friends, with Bob Iger notably transferring to mix the Hulu and Disney+ libraries, in addition to license choose Disney content material to Netflix. That stated, it hasn’t been all rainbows and sunshine for Zaslav. He’s acquired hefty criticism for his excessive compensation, ruffled the feathers of the Hollywood elite after tinkering at TCM, alienated previous associates amid NCS drama and needed to take care of an limitless checklist of trade challenges in 2023, together with the historic writers’ and actors’ strikes. But by means of the thick and skinny, Zaslav has been at the heart of all of it, taking part in an instrumental position in shaping the media panorama for the future.

Bob Iger: The king of the Magic Kingdom has by no means dominated in a extra consequential second. Iger retook the throne final 12 months and has labored by means of 2023 to place Disney as a media firm of the future. What that finally appears to be like like stays to be seen. But Iger’s imaginative and prescient is slowly coming into focus, with the Disney boss transferring to amass Comcast’s remaining stake in Hulu and making strikes to set ESPN up for a direct-to-consumer future, which can embrace sports activities betting. As with Zaslav, the 12 months has been grueling for Iger, as he’s been saddled with a mountain of challenges that are besetting Disney and the trade at giant. In the wake of an eyebrow elevating CNBC interview over the summer time, Iger pissed off his personal military of staffers and turned public enemy No. 1 in Hollywood amongst picketers. But with the strikes now resolved, he’s moved to calm his personal troops by signaling that he could not offload linear tv property comparable to ABC, regardless of having advised so earlier in the 12 months. Iger’s choices haven’t solely impacted the House of Mouse however despatched ripples by means of the media ocean.

Steve Bannon: The “War Room” host at present wears the crown as king of the MAGA Media. In 2023, the heart of gravity in far-right media moved into Bannon’s nook, notably after Fox News fired Tucker Carlson. The extremist rhetoric championed by Bannon usually units the agenda in the dishonest media area through which he holds court docket. Bannon won’t have the loudest microphone, however he definitely performs a vital position shaping the narratives that are usually adopted by Donald Trump and his allies. His “War Room” present is to 2024 what Breitbart was in 2016.

Greta Gerwig: With her smash hit “Barbie,” Gerwig established herself as an leisure drive. Yes, her earlier initiatives “Little Women” and “Lady Bird” have been acclaimed by critics and nominated every for a number of Academy Awards (the former took one house). But Gerwig surfaced to the entrance of the public’s consciousness in a significant method over the summer time, breaking data at the field workplace, with “Barbie” producing greater than $1.4 billion in international ticket gross sales. Accompanied by Swift and Beyoncé, Gerwig performed a number one position in the summer time of ladies.

Adam Mosseri: When individuals discuss Meta, founder Mark Zuckerberg usually involves thoughts. And whereas Zuck definitely holds the final energy inside the empire he has constructed, Mosseri stood out in 2023. The Instagram boss expanded his portfolio, overseeing Meta’s X competitor, Threads. And because of this, he expanded his visibility, turning into a much more distinguished determine in the public sq.. As Threads boss, Mosseri has performed an essential position in shaping the platform (which has turn out to be the de facto house for X refugees) and essential coverage choices. Mosseri additionally discovered himself the topic of some unflattering information protection. Outlets like The Wall Street Journal continued to aggressively report on disturbing traits of Instagram’s highly effective algorithm — a not so nice reminder of the energy Mosseri wields as the govt calling the pictures at the Meta properties.

Kara Swisher: If there may be one journalist that each govt in the media and tech sectors is aware of, fears and respects, it’s Swisher. The reporter-podcaster-commentator is a drive of nature, prolifically updating her thousands and thousands of followers with essential insights into the largest tales of the day, whereas additionally not being afraid to name anybody out on the carpet. And regardless of her no-holds-barred type and distinctive capacity to get below the pores and skin of some of the world’s most highly effective individuals, Swisher nonetheless manages to safe top-notch interviews, each at in-person occasions and on her many podcasts. It’s a nod to how extensively revered she is.

Janice Min and Jon Kelly: Those In The Know in The Biz have probably observed their media diets change in the final two years. While Hollywood denizens nonetheless obsessively scan the main Hollywood trades, Min and Kelly have assigned them some obligatory studying materials as nicely. Both The Ankler and Puck have emerged on the scene as large gamers in Hollywood media, delivering important reporting on the trade about — and to — the prime figures in the leisure enterprise.

Linda Yaccarino: Has any govt so destroyed their status as rapidly and publicly as Yaccarino? The once-respected NBCUniversal promoting chief moved over to X the place she set ablaze the sterling status she had acquired over a long time of laborious work. Yaccarino, who holds the title of X chief govt, has really served as Elon Musk’s ache sponge, turning into the public face for the disastrous choices and usually gross conduct executed every day by the billionaire as he embraces conspiracy theories. Yaccarino’s associates in the promoting enterprise implored her to go away after Musk’s endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy idea, however Yaccarino selected to remain, driving a nail into the coffin on what was left of her public standing.

Rupert Murdoch: There are 787 million causes that Murdoch had a less-than-ideal 12 months. The Fox boss was pressured to pay the historic fortune to settle a damning lawsuit introduced in opposition to his right-wing cable community by Dominion Voting Systems. The lawsuit introduced much more disgrace to Murdoch and his secure of hosts and executives, who have been revealed to have identified that Donald Trump’s election lies have been bogus, regardless of broadcasting them to thousands and thousands of their loyal viewers. And it revealed, to some extent, that Murdoch had misplaced management of the right-wing media universe he as soon as dominated, with emails displaying the Fox News proprietor was fearful of Trump’s military of supporters. Elsewhere in his media empire, Murdoch needed to scrap plans to reunite News Corporation with Fox Corporation. It was an all-around horrible 12 months for the media mogul — one capped by Murdoch even seeming to acknowledge that his powers are fading, handing the keys to his empire to his son Lachlan as he retired — not less than on paper — and transitioned to chairman emeritus of his corporations.

Tucker Carlson: The one-time king of Fox News thought he was untouchable. And to be frank, it definitely appeared that approach to most of the public. But Murdoch turned that notion on its head when he fired Carlson in April. Murdoch gave no cause for the firing of the right-wing extremist who had repeatedly abused the primetime perch entrusted to him. Regardless, it was a brutal blow to Carlson, whose influenced had unquestionably diminished with out the distinguished platform Murdoch had supplied him. In the wake of his firing, Carlson turned to vlogging on X. More lately, he claimed to launch a “streaming network,” which is known as a assortment of his movies being bought at an outrageous worth to his followers.

Chris Licht: When Licht took over as NCS boss, he had super goodwill. Suffice to say, he had squandered each ounce of it by the finish of his short-lived tenure, which ended over the summer time after a really public firing by his boss, David Zaslav. Licht’s transient one-year tenure was stained by a sequence of extreme missteps. It was marked by layoffs, shrinking earnings, traditionally low scores, the firing of two anchors, and rock-bottom worker morale. The remaining loss of life knell was a devastating — and extremely embarrassing — 15,000-word profile in The Atlantic. The blistering piece, through which creator Tim Alberta spoke to greater than 100 NCS workers, known as into severe query Licht’s capacity to guide the group into the future. Zaslav finally agreed, exiling his one-time pal from the WBD kingdom.

Kevin Feige: Once upon a time, Marvel Studios reliably churned out billion-dollar hits acclaimed by critics and followers alike. 2023 shattered that notion, leaving a multitude for Marvel boss Feige to marvel at. The studio’s $200 million-plus “The Marvels” bombed at the field workplace and was panned by critics and followers. And, earlier in the 12 months, “Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” was savaged by the critics. To make issues worse, Marvel needed to drop Jonathan Majors — who was positioned to play the chief villain in the new part of the MCU — after the actor was convicted of harassment and assault. Taken collectively, it’s a dire state of affairs for the Feige-led Marvel, which has lengthy been one of Hollywood’s most profitable studios.

Sundar Pichai: For years and years, Google has operated with out going through any severe threats to its enterprise. That modified in 2023, with the abrupt ascension of OpenAI, which has left the tech titan doing every part in its energy to play catch-up. Pichai, going through what might be an existential menace to Google’s dominant search product, introduced Gemini late in the 12 months, however the product hasn’t fairly lived as much as the promised hype. On the antitrust entrance, Google can also be in unprecedented territory, having misplaced a significant trial to Epic Games because it concurrently battles the Department of Justice in a separate consequential lawsuit. At the very least, the lawsuits have uncovered how the sausage is made at Google — and it hasn’t been the greatest sight to behold.