For @thenation.com: I reviewed @karenhao.bsky.social’s Empire of AI and took a closer look at her argument that OpenAI’s "scaling laws" echo the expansionist ideologies of European empires. www.thenation.com/article/cult...

💫 NEW! @karenhao.bsky.social, a leading journalist on AI’s impacts and harms, shares insights with GIJN ahead of her session at #GIJC25 in Malaysia. 🔗 More:

The EMPIRE OF AI fall tour has new stops! My site now lists all of my public events through the rest of the year. Some require tickets. Most are free with required registration. Review the details and reserve your seats here: empireofai.com#tour. See you soon!

At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed. We join with more than 150 other media outlets across the world to condemn these crimes. Read more: interc.pt/3HS71C2

I also really appreciate this advice from @emilymbender.bsky.social and @karenhao.bsky.social, which tracks with my own experience teaching high school students and college students and talking with my own kids. Emphasize environmental costs and - once more - that GenAI is *not* inevitable.

I didn't think a journalist and author could make it to the TIME100 AI list, but this one did. 🥹 What an honor—and lovely writeup from Andrew Chow. "Hao is fundamentally shaping many people’s perceptions & understanding of the company at the center of the AI revolution." time.com/collections/...

Reading about the horrifying case of Adam Raine, a teen who killed himself after prolonged engagement with ChatGPT, I can’t help but think of German artist and filmmaker Hito Steyerl’s wisdom to me a year ago. She already knew the answer. None of this was inevitable. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...

It's festival season! Join me at 1 of 3 festivals over the next 4 days: Aug 21: Edinburgh Book Festival Aug 23*: San Diego Book Festival (virtual appearance) Aug 24*: Open House Festival A few tickets left for each: empireofai.com/#tour * with apologies for the date typo on my tour card

Wow EMPIRE OF AI is on the longlist for @FinancialTimes' best business book of 2025 alongside so many people whose work I admire, including @danwwang, @evadou, @doctorow & others. Such an amazing honor among amazing company 😍 View the list here: businessbook.live.ft.com/page/4834239/the-longlist

Omg Andrew Garfield is reading my book for the OpenAI movie. www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/com...

I'm headed back on tour for my book EMPIRE OF AI! Starting next week, I'll be on the road again with stops in the US, UK, Europe & Asia. Here are my upcoming events open to the public, with more to come. Event details & ticket reservations at empireofai.com/#tour.

I met Anas during an Israeli siege of a hospital. He grew to be my mentor — and my friend.

Because I am angry I will share this again. One of the reasons that Israel is able to target individuals so precisely is that it collects every phone call in Gaza and stores the recordings in Microsoft Azure, then uses AI to analyze and pick targets.

Last month, Anas al-Sharif sounded the alarm on starvation in Gaza. Israel accused him of terrorism. "We warned this felt like a precursor to justify assassination," said Jodie Ginsberg of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Today he was killed in a targeted strike on a tent housing reporters.

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.

“A legitimate PhD-level expert in anything,” they said. “Show me a diagram of the US presidents since FDR, with their names and years in office under their photos,” I said.

Tomorrow: Carole Cadwalladr meets author of 'Empire of AI' Karen Hao 12pm BST, Live on Substack @carolecadwalla.bsky.social @karenhao.bsky.social More here: citizensreunited.substack.com/p/next-week-...

Today the OpenAI Nonprofit Commission released a report asserting OpenAI is ‘positioned to be a force of good in this Age of Intelligence’. The report also claims that AI Now was among the orgs participating in the listening process that led to this report. We did not.

Even here in small-ish town Indiana, massive wait for this fantastic book Empire of AI by @karenhao.bsky.social #AIALIGNMENT #AI #Tech #ParadigmShock

DMV area library wait times for the audiobook …

🇨🇱 In Chile, where AI data centers threaten the country’s precious water resources, Karen Hao makes the case that AI firms are building their wealth off resource extraction and labor exploitation reut.rs/3GmhZPy

This comparsion in the NYTimes today is pretty stark. China is racing ahead to be a high-tech exporter of 21st century technologies, while the US is doubling down on being a petro-state exporting the technologies of the 19th century: www.nytimes.com/inte...

1. Missionaries beating mercenaries is straight up colonial language, @karenhao.bsky.social nailed it 2. ...is that historically true?

It was such a pleasure to speak with @aaronjbastani.bsky.social for @novaramedia.com about my book Empire of AI. Really thoughtful and thorough questions that explored the many human stories I highlight in my book. Order the book here: empireofai.com. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8enX...

"Speedrunning the social media harm cycle" is exactly the right phrase to understand what's happening here.

Perfect opportunity on your trip to read this stunning new book. Artfully articulated, detailed, deeply researched, exquisitely organized, beautifully constructed. Exponentially insightful. EMPIRE OF AI by Karen Hao @karenhao.bsky.social Essential. Consequential. Riveting. Don’t miss Ch. 9, 12

I started reading the new book by @karenhao.bsky.social titled #EmpireOfAI and holy moley it’s so good. While on one level it’s about Open AI, but it’s also about the broader story of AI development and the dangers it presents. Get this book. Highly recommend.

I can’t recommend @karenhao.bsky.social’s Empire of AI enough. She doesn’t shy away from telling the true story of OpenAI and all the harm that’s come from its pursuit of generative AI expansion. It was a pleasure to dig into it with her on the podcast!

For everyone who was sad to miss it, the recording of the Data & Society event about THE AI CON (me and @alexhanna.bsky.social) and EMPIRE OF AI (@karenhao.bsky.social) moderated by @tamigraph.bsky.social is now online! datasociety.net/events/chall...

Not sure if @karenhao.bsky.social counts as a Boston hometown hero, but her book sure is popular at the Boston public library 😅

70% of the way through this, and I already think it's one of the most compelling books written about the rapacious industrialization of what ought to have been a beneficial technology. @karenhao.bsky.social has done an *outstanding* job. Highly recommended.

In a wonderful antidote to all things genAI, I have spent the evening interviewing the incredible @karenhao.bsky.social about her book, Empire of AI. I’m not exaggerating when I say I think this is one of the most important books of the decade. www.penguin.co.uk/books/460331...

So nice to see genuine superstar @karenhao.bsky.social on her London book tour. Smart, thoughtful questions from @drkatedevlin.bsky.social. Buy this book!

Listened to Empire of AI by @karenhao.bsky.social as an audiobook (narrated by the author). I think the best book on AI I have read. At this point you can't meaninfully talk about AI and the implications as a technology without focusing on power and control, which this nails.

got my copy! looking forward to it @karenhao.bsky.social

Heilmann interviewed Karen Hao and she makes a really interesting comparison between the current State/Tech political economic battles and the Crown/British East India Company struggle in the 17th & 18th centuries. Very smart. @karenhao.bsky.social

I finished @karenhao.bsky.social 's book #empireofai this morning and I'm floored. Absolutely captivating, and so much more disturbing than I expected. Drop what you're doing and get yourself a copy.

A dream come true to talk about my book Empire of AI on PBS NewsHour. I discuss OpenAI, Sam Altman, & why we do not have to accept the extraordinary harms of the current trajectory of AI development. Thank you Ali Rogan for having me! Order my book: empireofai.com. www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Dogs and books

Just finished listening to @karenhao.bsky.social's empireofai.com 📚💙 A sobering investigative journalism, exploration of the power dynamics of the AI industry, its ethics, environmental impact, & the dual possibilities of AI as either an equalizer, or a tool to perpetuate systemic inequality. 1/

This in-depth documentary from Samuel Black at @moreperfectunion.bsky.social on xAI's Colossus supercomputer in Memphis, TN for training Grok is a phenomenal example of the kind of in-depth AI accountability reporting we cannot have enough of. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT...

Loved listening to @karenhao.bsky.social at @politicsprose.bsky.social after having read her for many years, and quoted her work in my essay -Patriartech -it made her smile - goal accomplished! "Empire of AI" is a must-read for anyone interested in generative AI. Let's also appreciate the stamp!

been waiting to get my fingers on this book! @karenhao.bsky.social

There are alternative approaches to developing artificial intelligence that OpenAI's Sam Altman and others could have taken, says @karenhao.bsky.social. Instead, Silicon Valley is burning through hundreds of billions in investment money that, so far, has had a "middling economic impact."

"Silicon Valley's scale-at-all-costs approach to AI development … is causing a lot of social, labor and environmental harms," says technology reporter @karenhao.bsky.social, whose new book is "Empire of AI."

At our launch event for @karenhao.bsky.social's new book, Empire of AI, Lina Khan spoke on the ramifications of Big Tech’s consolidated control over AI. Watch the full recording: ainowinstitute.org/news/announc...

Our book of the month for June is @karenhao.bsky.social's astonishing look at the hottest company in tech: "Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI" It's a detailed, critical dive into what AI is, where it comes from, and what it costs. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/cur014-kar...

We will be known as the culture that feared death and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity for the few and cared little for the penury of the many. —Mary Oliver|Of The Empire Mary Oliver ‘s full poem echoed as I read EMPIRE OF AI by @karenhao.bsky.social h/t @moonalice.com esp ch 9, 12: