Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao

Author: Karen Hao 
Publication Date: 2025
Amazon Rating: 4.4

In the high-stakes world of artificial intelligence, few stories are as compelling as the rise of OpenAI. Karen Hao’s Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI takes readers deep inside the company that unleashed ChatGPT and ignited a global AI revolution. What began as a nonprofit with lofty promises of safety and ethical oversight quickly became evolved into a high-pressure race for dominance, driven a high-pressure race for evolved into a high-pressure race for dominance, driven dominance, fueled by massive computing power, vast troves of data, and human labor often extracted under difficult conditions in the Global South.

Hao’s reporting captures the dramatic arc of OpenAI, including Sam Altman’s sudden firing and triumphant return, revealing a company navigating unprecedented ambition, power struggles, and ethical dilemmas. She shows how even well-intentioned leaders are swept up in forces that shape the technology and the world in unpredictable ways.

Beyond Silicon Valley, Hao visits Kenya and Chile, illustrating the real human and environmental costs behind AI’s rapid expansion. Her narrative exposes the broader implications of this technological arms race, highlighting how a handful of tech giants are steering humanity toward innovations whose consequences remain largely unknown.

Empire of AI is a gripping and eye-opening account that examines ambition, innovation, and the hidden toll of the technologies transforming our lives. For anyone curious about the people, power, and forces behind the AI revolution, it offers an indispensable, unflinching look at a world being reshaped in real time.

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