Empire of AI
 | |
| Author | Karen Hao |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Daniel Lagin |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Biography |
| Publisher | Penguin Press (U.S.) |
Publication date | May 20, 2025 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | E-book, Print (Hardback), and Audiobook |
| Pages | 496 pp. |
| ISBN | 978-0593657508 |
Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI is a book by Karen Hao released on May 20, 2025. It focuses on the history of OpenAI and its culture of secrecy and devotion to the promise of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
The book includes interviews with around 260 people, correspondence, and relevant documents.[1] The title makes reference to colonial empires of the 1800s.[2]
Origins
[edit]Hao visited OpenAI's offices and covered the company for the MIT Technology Review two years before ChatGPT was released.[3] Her experience there and reporting on topics of AI for seven years led her to write Empire Of AI.[2][3]
Contents
[edit]- Prologue: A Run for the Throne
- Part I
- Divine Right
- A Civilizing Mission
- Nerve Center
- Dreams of Modernity
- Scale of Ambition
- Part II
- Ascension
- Science in Captivity
- Dawn of Commerce
- Disaster Capitalism
- Part III
- Gods and Demons
- Apex
- Plundered Earth
- The Two Prophets
- Deliverance
- Part IV
- The Gambit
- Cloak-and-Dagger
- Reckoning
- A Formula for Empire
- Epilogue: How the Empire Falls
Reception
[edit]This book is one of two books that was written about OpenAI that are released around the same time. They both rely on similar sources to write their respective books.[4] Hao's book is noted to be "broader and more critical of the two" and "darker",[4] and "dispels any doubt that OpenAI’s belief in ushering in AGI to benefit all of humanity had messianic undertones".[3] Some make the comparison of Hao's book to the book The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, which accounts the rise of another corporate empire, The East India Company.[3]
OpenAI declined to cooperate with Hao on her book[2] and CEO Sam Altman has publicly criticised Hao's book on social media.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Hao, Karen. "ChatGPT succeeded beyond OpenAI's wildest dreams. Then came the chaos". Business Insider. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ a b c Inskeep, Steve (May 20, 2025). "Journalist Karen Hao discusses her book 'Empire of AI'". NPR. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Mauran, Cecily (May 19, 2025). "'Empire of AI' author on OpenAI's cult of AGI and why Sam Altman tried to discredit her book". Mashable. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ a b Wu, Tim (May 19, 2025). "Hey ChatGPT, Which One of These Is the Real Sam Altman?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 21, 2025.