Empire of AI

Introduction: The Reality of the Artificial Intelligence Industry

Karen Hao interviewed over 260 people and reviewed thousands of documents to understand the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. This extensive investigation shows how a purely scientific goal quickly became a global search for corporate power. While leaders at major technology companies largely declined to participate, the story is told by the workers and communities who feel the direct effects of this technology every day.

In November 2023, the technology world was shaken when the board of OpenAI suddenly fired its chief executive, Sam Altman. While Altman was traveling, the board informed him over a video call that they no longer had confidence in his leadership. This abrupt decision sent the company into an immediate state of chaos, leaving hundreds of employees deeply worried about their jobs and the future of their work.

The fallout from this firing revealed a deep divide between the company’s original nonprofit mission and its new financial reality. The organization was initially founded to create technology that would benefit everyone, rather than just making money for investors. However, as the technology became more expensive to build, the company created a for-profit branch to raise billions of dollars from major partners like Microsoft, causing a massive shift in priorities.

Within five days of the firing, pressure from employees and powerful investors forced the board to surrender. Altman returned to his position, and the board members who had fired him were replaced by new leaders more aligned with the company’s commercial goals. This event marked a turning point, proving that the original plan to have a nonprofit board control the development of powerful technology had completely failed.

The current way of building artificial intelligence requires an enormous amount of physical resources that are often hidden from the public. To create these massive systems, companies must use staggering amounts of data, electricity, and water to keep their computers running. They also rely heavily on a global workforce of low-paid laborers in countries like Kenya and Colombia to sort and label the data that teaches the machines how to operate.

The belief that artificial intelligence must always be bigger and more powerful has become the standard for the entire industry. This approach forces companies to compete by spending billions of dollars, which heavily discourages smaller, specialized ways of developing technology that might be more helpful for specific needs like medicine. Because the cost of competing is so high, only the wealthiest corporations can afford to stay in the race, giving them a tight grip on how the future will be shaped.