Karen Hao is a journalist to trust on this topic—the business of AI. She understands enough about the tech aspects of Large Language Models (LLMs), as well as about Silicon Valley’s unique perspectives on ethics in general, not to get distracted by the hype cycle. She writes plainly and effectively about real issues with the development and applications of the technology, like copyright concerns and labor issues, and water use and privacy. Hao recognizes the wisdom in the old axiom that some in tech seem to have forgotten—“garbage in, garbage out”—and does due diligence on sourcing and hard facts, to give the reader a clearer picture than one might expect of a competitive but veiled field, built on promises about what might be possible. Her research took her around the world, and into some very familiar online spaces.
While Empire of AI is written with the careful sourcing and attention to detail of an academic book, it also has the pacing and page-voice of a non-academic book, so it’s an engrossing read. If you’re curious about how we got to where we are now—with millions of people voluntarily beta-testing predictive text and image algorithms, and often completely trusting the outputs to help them make decisions accordingly—you won’t be able to put this book down.
Hao, K. (2025). Empire of AI: dreams and nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Penguin Press.
