In 2025, artificial intelligence became a billionaire-making machine. Investors poured more than $200 billion into AI startups during the year, capturing roughly half of all global venture funding — up from a 34% share in 2024 — according to startup data firm Crunchbase. As a result, more than 50 individuals building the infrastructure, models, and applications bringing AI to market became billionaires on paper, Forbes reports. The geography of this wealth creation was global: While many new billionair ...