About TIME’s AI Chatbot

Person of the Year is one of our most enduring franchises. Every year, we aim to name a Person of the Year—the person, group, or concept that had the most influence on the world during the previous 12 months. With this year’s release, we wanted to do something that reflected a recent change in how we interact with information and news.

Our goal was to create an AI chatbot specifically designed to answer questions about TIME’s Person of the Year—past or present—based on a curated body of verified TIME articles, other trusted sources, and the bot’s built-in general knowledge. This chatbot is tailored to provide focused, reliable, and accurate responses while maintaining a safe and professional tone. It is engineered to prevent users from steering the conversation toward unrelated, controversial, or potentially biased topics. 

TIME’s AI chatbot represents a significant step forward in using AI to enhance journalism. With its guardrails and focused content retrieval, the chatbot aims to deliver a safe, accurate, and engaging experience for readers. This tool exemplifies how innovation can support and amplify trusted reporting.

Here’s a closer look at how it works.

What is TIME's AI chatbot?
It’s an interactive tool designed to help readers explore TIME’s Person of the Year package. Powered by verified articles, the chatbot provides accurate, in-depth information about past and present Persons of the Year. Unlike general AI tools, it’s purpose-built for meaningful, focused conversations about a single aspect of TIME’s journalism. It combines accuracy, depth, and interactivity in a way that aligns with TIME’s commitment to trustworthy reporting. By making Person of the Year coverage more interactive, the chatbot deepens reader engagement and accessibility. 

How do we ensure the chatbot provides accurate information?
The system’s responses are rooted in vetted content from TIME articles and other trusted sources, all in the service of adhering to rigorous journalistic standards. The goal is to avoid speculation and keep conversations within the scope of the chatbot’s expertise.

How does the chatbot handle misinformation?
By limiting its source material to approved articles and sources, the chatbot minimizes the risk of spreading inaccurate or unverified information. If a question strays into controversial territory, it redirects the conversation to safer, fact-based topics. It politely shifts the conversation back to its core purpose—exploring TIME’s Person of the Year package.

What kind of questions can readers ask?
Readers can ask about a number of topics, including:

Where does the chatbot’s information come from?
Its knowledge is drawn from the following:

What safeguards are in place?
The chatbot employs a dual-layer protection system:

How does it work?

The system employs a combination of three techniques:

The  chatbot system integrates several components, as illustrated below:

Why use two models?
A single model handling all tasks would face challenges due to prompt complexity. Large language models (LLMs) struggle to follow intricate, multi-layered instructions consistently. By dividing responsibilities between the primary chatbot and the guardrail model, the system maintains higher precision and reliability.

Primary Chatbot Setup

The primary chatbot, based on the GPT 4o Mini model, is optimized to answer questions about TIME’s Person of the Year based on curated content. The system prompt directs the chatbot to rely on the main article and supplementary articles when crafting its responses.

In addition to TIME articles, the chatbot uses summarization and tool calling to retrieve relevant information dynamically:

Guardrail Model Setup

The guardrail model, also based on GPT 4o Mini, acts as a safety filter. Its system prompt defines the boundaries for acceptable inputs, ensuring conversations remain relevant and appropriate. For every user message, it outputs:

Based on the safety score, the system either routes the input to the primary chatbot or delivers the guardrail’s alternative response.