Dwarkesh Patel/ Shama Hyder / TIME

TIME magazine has named Two Indian-origin creators to its 2026 TIME100 Creators list released on July 14.

AI podcaster Dwarkesh Patel and entrepreneur and digital marketing strategist Shama Hyder, were on the list comprising the world’s leading content creators from different fields.

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Patel was recognized in the Leaders category for his Dwarkesh Podcast, which features long-form interviews with leading figures in artificial intelligence, science, history, and economics. According to TIME, the podcast averages more than 1.8 million listens per episode and has become a destination for conversations with some of the technology industry's most influential voices.

Born in Vadodara, Gujarat, Patel moved to the United States at the age of 8. He began podcasting while studying computer science at the University of Texas at Austin and has since interviewed prominent figures including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.

TIME said Patel's views on artificial intelligence have evolved alongside the rapid development of the technology. It noted that he now describes himself as "moderately bearish in the short term and explosively bullish in the long term" on AI progress.

Reflecting on his podcast's mission, Patel wrote, "Whatever happens next, I want the debates to have happened on this podcast and to have happened well."

The list also features India-born entrepreneur Shama Hyder, who founded global B2B marketing and public relations agency Zen Media after completing a master's degree focused on social media and emerging platforms.

Born in Margao, Goa, Hyder built Zen Media from a $1,500 startup into a globally recognized agency before exiting the company. She currently serves as an applied AI evangelist at Wispr Flow, professor of practice at Link School of Business, and continues to advise businesses on artificial intelligence, digital strategy, and leadership.

TIME described Hyder as a digital marketing strategist who has spent more than 15 years helping businesses navigate the evolving digital economy. It also highlighted her bestselling books, The Zen of Social Media Marketing and Momentum: How to Propel Your Marketing and Transform Your Brand in the Digital Age, as well as her focus on helping professionals adapt to the age of AI through LinkedIn and her Substack newsletter, The Hyder Ground.

Responding to the recognition on Instagram, Hyder reflected on her journey from the early days of social media to being named to the TIME100 Creators list.

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"For 17 years, I built before anyone called me a creator. Today, TIME named me one of the 100 most influential creators in the world," she wrote.

Recalling the early years of social media, Hyder said she wrote her master's thesis on Twitter when the platform had fewer than 2,000 users and was often told that social media had no future in business.

"We weren't trying to become creators. We were just early," she wrote, adding that she went on to build a global agency, work with Fortune 500 companies, write books, speak in 26 countries, and eventually exit the business.

Calling the recognition a tribute to years of consistent work, Hyder wrote, "This recognition means a lot. What it really honors is all the ordinary Tuesdays before it. The years spent building when no one was paying attention. The ideas that looked too early. The work that had to be its own reward."

Encouraging others pursuing long-term goals, she concluded, "If you're in one of those seasons right now, keep going. Recognition almost always arrives long after the work deserves it. Become undeniable."

The second annual TIME100 Creators list recognizes digital creators across platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Twitch, Spotify, and Substack. In an editorial accompanying the list, TIME editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs said independent creators have become a major source of information for Americans and that the publication aims to combine its editorial standards with the influence and reach of the creator economy.

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