NEW YORK, NY – Technology journalist Karen Hao has released “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI,” a detailed investigative examination of the artificial intelligence company that created ChatGPT and sparked the current AI development race across the technology industry.
The book represents seven years of reporting work, including interviews with approximately 260 people connected to OpenAI and the broader AI industry. Hao began covering OpenAI in 2019 when the company operated as a nonprofit research organization focused on developing AI for public benefit. The publication documents the company’s transformation into a competitive for-profit enterprise.
Published by Penguin Press in May 2025, the book achieved New York Times bestseller status and has received attention from major technology and business publications. The work combines insider access with critical analysis of AI development practices and their global impact on workers, communities, and environmental resources.
Reporting Methodology Provides Comprehensive Industry Access
Hao conducted extensive research using multiple information sources over several years. The author interviewed current and former OpenAI employees, industry executives, data workers in developing countries, and community activists affected by AI infrastructure projects. The book includes correspondence, internal documents, and firsthand observations from visits to OpenAI facilities.
“When AI expert and investigative journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys,” the book description states. “Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, the organization was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely mercantile, and potentially dangerous, forces.”
The research spans multiple geographic locations, including data centers in Chile, content moderation facilities in Kenya, and Silicon Valley offices. This global perspective allows the book to examine both the technical development and the broader supply chain that supports AI systems.
Critical Analysis Examines Corporate Structure Changes
The book documents OpenAI’s evolution from its original nonprofit structure to its current hybrid model that includes for-profit operations. This transformation occurred as the company required larger financial resources to develop more advanced AI systems. The analysis includes the company’s partnership with Microsoft and the creation of its “capped-profit” structure.
OpenAI declined to cooperate with Hao during the book’s preparation, and CEO Sam Altman has publicly criticized the work on social media platforms. The company did not provide interviews or official statements for the publication, according to multiple sources reviewing the book.
Global Impact Assessment Reveals Resource Requirements
The book examines the resource requirements needed for large-scale AI development, including energy consumption, water usage, and human labor. Hao reports on data centers that consume electricity comparable to major cities and water supplies that affect local communities. The analysis includes working conditions for data annotation workers in developing countries who support AI training processes.
“The core truth of this massively disruptive sector is that its vision of success requires an almost unprecedented amount of resources: the ‘compute’ power of high-end chips and the processing capacity to create massive large language models, the sheer volume of data that needs to be amassed at scale,” according to publisher descriptions of the book’s findings.
Reception Shows Mixed Critical Response
Professional reviews have praised the book’s research depth while noting its critical perspective on current AI development practices. Tim Wu of The New York Times called the work “excellent and deeply reported,” while Benjamin Wallace-Wells of The New Yorker described Hao’s “reporting inside OpenAI” as “exceptional.”
Some reader reviews on Goodreads and Amazon express concerns about potential bias in the analysis, while others commend the book’s documentation of previously unreported information about AI industry practices. The book has generated discussion about responsible AI development and the role of transparency in technology companies.
The publication arrives during ongoing debates about AI regulation, safety standards, and the concentration of AI development resources among a small number of major technology companies. Hao’s work contributes factual documentation to these policy discussions while avoiding speculation about future outcomes.
“Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI” is published by Penguin Press, available in hardcover, digital, and audio formats. The book contains 400+ pages based on reporting conducted between 2019 and 2025 across multiple countries and interview subjects.
Key Takeaways
- Seven years of investigative reporting reveals OpenAI’s transformation from nonprofit research organization to competitive commercial enterprise with Microsoft partnership.
- Book documents global resource requirements for AI development including energy consumption, water usage, and labor conditions in developing countries.
- Professional critics praise research methodology while noting critical perspective on current AI industry practices and corporate transparency standards.
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