Empire of AI

Rating: 5/5

I use AI tools every single day. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity. They're part of how I work. So when I picked up Karen Hao's Empire of AI, I figured it would be a behind-the-scenes look at OpenAI and Sam Altman. It is. But it's also a lot more than that.

Hao spent seven years reporting on AI. She talked to over 260 people. The book covers the full arc of OpenAI, from scrappy nonprofit to one of the most valuable companies in tech. The boardroom drama, the firing and rehiring of Altman, the shift from mission-driven lab to profit machine. That stuff reads like a thriller.

But the parts that really got to me were about the people we never hear about. Data workers in Kenya doing psychologically brutal work for almost nothing. Communities in Chile losing water to cool data centers. I use these AI tools so casually every morning. This book made me stop and think about what's actually powering them.

After finishing the book, I listened to Karen Hao's episode on the Diary of a CEO podcast. Hearing her talk about it made the whole thing land even harder. She's sharp and direct, and the conversation went deeper into the power dynamics inside OpenAI and the human cost of building these systems. If you don't have time for the full book, that episode alone is worth your time.

As someone building a career around AI and marketing, this was uncomfortable to read. I'm not going to stop using these tools. But I can't pretend the cost doesn't exist either. Hao doesn't preach at you. She just lays out the facts and lets you sit with them.

If you work anywhere near AI, tech, or marketing, read this book.