- Artificial intelligence has become the ultimate fortune-making machine: 86 billionaires now owe their wealth to AI, totalling 2,900 billion dollars.
- In one year, 45 new billionaires have emerged thanks to AI, an absolute record.
- Elon Musk dominates the global ranking with 839 billion dollars, a fortune that has almost doubled in a year.
- Nvidia, Google and a wave of start-ups are propelling a new generation of titans.
Global ranking 2026
The greatest AI fortunes
Estimated fortune, in billion dollars · Forbes World’s Billionaires 2026
Source: Forbes World’s Billionaires 2026 (March 2026).
Elon Musk, 839 billion: a fortune almost doubled
Driven by the merger between SpaceX and his AI company xAI, Elon Musk has seen his fortune almost double in a year to reach 839 billion dollars, an unprecedented peak. The world’s richest man single-handedly embodies the fusion of space, automotive and artificial intelligence that is redefining the map of great fortunes.
Nvidia and Google, the titan factories
AI first enriched those who make it possible. Jensen Huang, head of Nvidia, enters the global top 10 with 154 billion, up 55 billion in a year, driven by the rush for chips. At Google, co-founders Larry Page (257 billion) and Sergey Brin (237 billion) are benefiting from the success of the Gemini model.
45 new billionaires in a year
Never has the rise been so rapid. The richest newcomer is Edwin Chen, founder of Surge AI, valued at 18 billion thanks to a stake of over 75% in his data annotation company. Behind him, China’s Liu Debing (Z.ai, 9.1 billion) and Daniel Nadler (OpenEvidence, 7.6 billion) illustrate a rapid and global creation of wealth.
Towards an AI bubble?
This surge fuels a debate: are we facing a bubble? With 2,900 billion dollars concentrated among 86 fortunes, the valuation of AI already exceeds that of entire sectors. Whether the bubble bursts or not, one thing is certain: artificial intelligence has become the most powerful accelerator of fortunes in recent history.
