A couple of years ago, Grimes thought art might be dying. She worried that TikTok was overwhelming attention spans; that transgressive artists were becoming more sanitized; that gimmicky NFTs like the Bored Ape Yacht Club--digital cartoon monkeys which were selling for millions of dollars--were warping value systems. "I just went through this whole big'art isn't worth anything' internal existential crisis," the Canadian singer-songwriter says. "But I've come out the other end thinking, actually, maybe it's the main thing that matters. In the last year, I feel like things became way more about artists again." The rise of AI, Grimes believes, has played a role in that shift, perhaps paradoxically. Earlier this month, Grimes was honored at the TIME100 AI Impact Awards in Dubai for her role in shaping the present and future of the technology. While many other artists are terrified of AI and its potential to replace them, Grimes has embraced the technology, even releasing an AI tool allowing people to sing through her voice. Grimes' penchant for seriously engaging with what others fear or distrust makes her one of pop culture's most singular--and at times divisive--figures. But Grimes wears her contrarianism as a badge of honor, and doesn't hesitate to offer insights and perspectives on a variety of issues. "I'm so canceled that I basically have nothing left to lose," she says. She argues that hyper-partisan hysteria has consumed social media, and wishes people would have more measured, nuanced conversations, even with people that they disagree with. "A lot of people think I'm one way or the other, but my whole vibe is just like, I just want people to think well," she says.

Arvind Krishna, CEO, chairman and president of IBM, used his acceptance speech at the TIME100 AI Impact Awards on Monday to acknowledge pioneering computer scientist and mathematician Claude Shannon, calling him one of the "unsung heroes of today." Krishna, who accepted his award at a ceremony in Dubai alongside musician Grimes, California Institute of Technology professor Anima Anandkumar, and artist Refik Anadol, said of Shannon, "He would come up with the ways that you can convey information, all of which has stood the test until today." In 1948, Shannon--now known as the father of the information age--published "A Mathematical Theory of Communication," a transformative paper that, by proposing a simplified way of quantifying information via bits, would go on to fundamentally shape the development of information technology--and thus, our modern era. In his speech, Krishna also pointed to Shannon's work building robotic mice that solved mazes as an example of his enjoyment of play within his research. Krishna, of course, has some familiarity with what it takes to be at the cutting edge.