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Empire of AI
Inside the reckless race for total domination
Brief Description
An eye-opening account of the tech arms race shaping our planet, from an award-winning journalist and AI insider to the world of Sam Altman and OpenAI. When longtime AI expert and journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good...
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Description
An eye-opening account of the tech arms race shaping our planet, from an award-winning journalist and AI insider to the world of Sam Altman and OpenAI.
When longtime AI expert and journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, it was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely market forces.
But the core truth of this massively disruptive sector is that it requires an unprecedented amount of proprietary resources—the 'compute' power of scarce high-end chips, the sheer volume of data that needs to be amassed at scale, the humans on the ground 'cleaning it up' for sweatshop wages throughout the Global South, and a truly alarming spike in the need for energy and water underlying everything. We have entered a new, ominous age of empire with OpenAI setting a breakneck pace, as a small group of the most valuable companies in human history try to chase it down.
In exhilarating prose and with unparalleled access to those closest to Sam Altman, Hao recounts the meteoric rise of OpenAI and shows us the sinister impact that this industry is having on society.
Empire of AI is a compelling read that delves deep into the intricate and often unsettling world of artificial intelligence and its far-reaching consequences.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781802064650
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 19 May 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 15.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 200g
Pages: 496
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About the Author
Karen Hao is an award-winning journalist covering the impacts of artificial intelligence on society. She writes for publications including The Atlantic and leads the Pulitzer Center's AI Spotlight Series. She was formerly a tech reporter for the Wall Street Journal and a senior editor for AI at MIT Technology Review. She has received numerous accolades for her coverage, including an American National Magazine Award for Journalists Under 30. She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT.
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Empire of AI
An eye-opening account of the tech arms race shaping our planet, from an award-winning journalist and AI insider to the world of Sam Altman and OpenAI. When longtime AI expert and journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, it was...HardbackSold Out
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