Empire of AI

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Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI
Empire of AI book cover.jpg
Author Karen Hao
Cover artistDaniel Lagin
LanguageEnglish
Genre Biography
Publisher Penguin Press (U.S.)
Publication date
May 20, 2025
Publication placeUnited States
Media type E-book, print (hardback), and audiobook
Pages496 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).

Contents

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

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 and AI colonialism for seven years led her to develop the book's thesis and title, Empire Of AI, and ultimately became published as a book. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

  1. Divine Right
  2. A Civilizing Mission
  3. Nerve Center
  4. Dreams of Modernity
  5. Scale of Ambition
  1. Ascension
  2. Science in Captivity
  3. Dawn of Commerce
  4. Disaster Capitalism
  1. Gods and Demons
  2. Apex
  3. Plundered Earth
  4. The Two Prophets
  5. Deliverance
  1. The Gambit
  2. Cloak-and-Dagger
  3. Reckoning
  4. A Formula for Empire

Reception

This book is one of two written about OpenAI that were released around the same time, the other being Keach Hagey's The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future. Both Hao and Hagey rely on similar sources to write their respective books. [5] Hao's book is noted to be "broader and more critical of the two" and "darker", [5] and "dispels any doubt that OpenAI’s belief in ushering in AGI to benefit all of humanity had messianic undertones". [3] Some have compared Hao's book to historian William Dalrymple's The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company , which recounts 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

  1. ↑ Hao, Karen. "ChatGPT succeeded beyond OpenAI's wildest dreams. Then came the chaos". Business Insider. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Inskeep, Steve (May 20, 2025). "Journalist Karen Hao discusses her book 'Empire of AI'". NPR. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 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.
  4. ↑ "OpenAI: The power and the pride". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  5. 1 2 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.
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