OpenAI´s journey from a safety-centric Artificial Intelligence lab to a global tech powerhouse has sparked intense debate over its societal impact, as reflected in two new books by leading technology journalists. Karen Hao’s ´Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI´ explores the organization’s ambitious evolution and its profound effects across the globe, while Keach Hagey’s ´The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future´ offers a closer look at Sam Altman´s personal ascendancy and leadership style. Both authors delve into the complexities of OpenAI’s mission, revealing an organization shaped by fierce ambition, ethical compromise, and the highly driven figures behind its rise.
Hao’s book presents a compelling argument about the parallels between the modern Artificial Intelligence industry and historical empires, contending that major companies like OpenAI benefit from extracting not just data but labor, creativity, and natural resources from less privileged communities. Her reporting documents the global repercussions, from data labelers in Colombia and traumatized content moderators in Kenya to the environmental toll in Chile’s mining regions, all contributing to the functioning and scaling of large language models. Despite her critique, Hao isn’t opposed to Artificial Intelligence itself; rather, she challenges the notion that only massive, centralized projects deliver value, citing community-driven alternatives in New Zealand as a hopeful counterexample.
Ultimately, both books underscore the tension between utopian promises and pragmatic ambition that characterizes OpenAI, with Hao framing the company´s trajectory as a cautionary tale about power, exploitation, and the resurgence of digital colonialism. Hagey, while focusing more on Altman’s biography, echoes these themes by portraying the CEO’s outsized aspirations, such as his involvement with Worldcoin and experimentation with basic income, as endeavors that blur the line between technology companies and governing entities. Both works, in their distinct approaches, provide rich perspectives on OpenAI’s dual legacy: its extraordinary achievements in Artificial Intelligence and the pressing questions it raises about ethics, equity, and the control over emerging technologies.
