Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI
About the book
Author: Karen Hao
Publisher: Penguin Press
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My review
I work at a tech company, so of course I’m tangentially familiar with the rise of Open AI and other AI companies like Anthropic. Which is why I knew I was in for a wild, uncomfortable ride when my office book club (which I lead) chose this book as our next selection. Reader, I was right.
This book gets five stars from me because it is exceptionally researched and written, with very very high journalistic standards set for fact checking and corroboration of accounts from primary sources. Karen Hao did her HOMEWORK here, and this book is truly a feat. I really hope I can convince a lot more people to read it.
I would not, however, say I enjoyed this book. At this point I’ve pretty much accepted the truth that all these tech giants are run by sociopaths, and Sam Altman is possibly the most dangerous kind (because so many people believe he is not). If you’re looking for a book that will make you feel better about the future of tech and the current tech landscape, this is not it. But if you’re looking a book that will make you more informed about those things, it absolutely is.
TLDR: Pick this one up, guard your heart, and try to compartmentalize the train crash we can all see coming.
Content and trigger warnings
Colonization
Sexual violence
