Empire of AI

Our lives are about to be remade by artificial intelligence—or to be more accurate, by a few companies run by a few very self-confident people. If you ever wondered whether all of this is inevitable, whether to believe all the promises of tech luminaries, whether we could save a little bit of our democracy in the age of AI, then read this book!

Daron Acemoglu, recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

With devastating revelations, deep insider research, and delightful page-turning delivery, Karen Hao shows us why she is one of the foremost tech journalists covering AI. From data centers in Chile to data workers in Kenya, Empire of AI reveals the hidden human and environmental costs behind AI products that have triggered a race for land, water, and cheap labor to cement power in the hands of a few. Empire of AI is the warning we need—just as more open and less energy-intensive alternatives reveal that a different AI future is possible and achievable

Dr. Joy Buolamwini, author of <i> Unmasking AI </i>

In her brilliant book, Empire of AI, Karen Hao chronicles the mania surrounding artificial intelligence and OpenAI. With a cast of scientists, scammers, and scoundrels, Empire of AI documents the hype campaign that caused the world to fall in love with a technology whose immediate harms are legion and benefits remain unproved. When litigation comes, this book may find a second life as Exhibit A for the plaintiffs

Roger McNamee, author of <i> Zucked </i>

Empire of AI is a heroic work. Karen Hao braved many obstacles with gritty determination as she traveled the yellow brick road to the Oz of the storied corporation OpenAI to bring us this work of essential public education. Hao is a gifted journalist and a deep thinker who reveals the historical significance and societal consequences of Silicon Valley’s AI spectacle, even as she meticulously documents a company and its leader hellbent on getting there first with no idea where they are going. If you think the digital future is safe in the hands of brilliant scientists, smart investors, and earnest political leaders, read this book and think again

Shoshana Zuboff, author of <i> The Age of Surveillance Capitalism </i>

An epic exposé that pulls back the curtain on the egos and uneasy compromises behind the rise of OpenAI and ChatGPT. It's full of dark details, some of them bordering on absurd, that shows how much of the AI boom runs on secrecy and is driven by questionable ideologies. This book serves as a warning about the price we all pay when AI builders who dreamed of utopia got swept up in a race to build empires instead

Parmy Olson, Bloomberg columnist and author of <i> Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the Race That Will Change the World </i>

Startling and intensely researched . . . an essential account of how OpenAI and ChatGPT came to be and the catastrophic places they will likely take us

Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture

A gripping new account of the battle for AI supremacy… tense and absorbing

Emine Saner, Guardian

A veteran AI reporter, Hao’s more detailed account of OpenAI’s progress... doesn't pull any punches

Richard Waters, Financial Times