Who’s getting rich off AI? These 7 names are leading the pack

Synopsis

The AI boom has minted a new class of billionaires, led by Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, whose GPUs power the AI revolution. Young entrepreneurs like Alexandr Wang of Scale AI are also profiting from data labeling. Others, like Phil Shawe, leverage AI to enhance traditional businesses, while innovators such as Yao Runhao are exploring AI’s potential in gaming.

A new breed of billionaires is emerging from the artificial intelligence boom. From building the hardware that runs massive language models to pushing AI into gaming and translation, these founders and executives have turned the AI surge into staggering personal fortunes.

Jensen Huang leads the pack, with a net worth of $113 billion thanks to Nvidia’s position at the heart of the AI ecosystem. As demand for computing power exploded with the rise of large language models like ChatGPT and Meta’s Llama, Nvidia’s GPUs became indispensable. In July 2025, Nvidia hit a $4 trillion valuation, and Huang’s 3% stake propelled him into the ranks of the world’s 20 richest people.

Alexandr Wang, just 26, is the youngest self-made AI billionaire. He founded Scale AI at 19 to handle the tedious but critical work of labelling data for machine learning. Today, his company supports over 300 clients including Google, Meta and General Motors. His 14% stake in the $14 billion firm has made him worth $2.7 billion.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, is arguably the most recognisable name in AI, though not the richest. Altman doesn’t hold equity in OpenAI, which is valued around $300 billion, but has built a personal fortune of $1.9 billion through earlier bets on companies like Stripe and Reddit, as well as a $42 million exit from his startup Loopt. His leadership helped make generative AI tools like ChatGPT part of everyday tech vocabulary.

Phil Shawe, co-CEO of TransPerfect, took a different path–using AI to supercharge a traditional business. His company, which he started from a dorm room in 1992, now brings in $1.3 billion annually by offering AI-enhanced translation and localisation services to clients across sectors. Owning 99% of the business, Shawe is now worth $1.8 billion.

Dario Amodei left OpenAI in 2021 to co-found Anthropic, a company focused on developing safe and aligned AI systems using reinforcement learning from human feedback. That focus on ethics paid off–Anthropic is now valued at $61.5 billion, and Amodei is worth $1.2 billion.

Liang Wenfeng, once a hedge fund manager, made waves in 2025 with DeepSeek-R1–a language model that matched ChatGPT on some metrics and cut computing costs by 80%. The shock caused Nvidia’s stock to tumble 17% in a day. Wenfeng’s savvy has built him a $1 billion fortune and made him a rising star in China’s AI scene.

Yao Runhao has shown that AI’s potential goes far beyond chatbots and infrastructure. As CEO of Paper Games, he developed Love and Deepspace, an AI-powered interactive dating game that attracts more than six million users each month. By focusing on China’s female gaming audience and leaning into AI-driven storytelling, Yao built a $1.3 billion fortune.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the top AI billionaires, as ranked by Forbes:

With inputs from TOI