{"id":29452,"date":"2025-09-17T09:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T13:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/?p=29452"},"modified":"2026-02-26T09:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:08:22","slug":"empire-of-ai-dreams-and-nightmares-in-sam-altmans-open-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/17\/empire-of-ai-dreams-and-nightmares-in-sam-altmans-open-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman\u2019s Open AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-600x392.jpg\" alt=\"Karen Hao\" class=\"wp-image-29450 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-600x392.jpg 600w, https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-665x434.jpg 665w, https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal.jpg 980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>What:<\/strong> A discussion on Karen Hao\u2019s best-selling book, \u201cEmpire of AI.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>When:<\/strong> Monday, October 20, <br>5 &#8211; 7 p.m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Where:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.studentlife.umich.edu\/building\/horace-h-rackham-school-of-graduate-studies\">Rackham<\/a> Auditorium, 915 E. Washington St.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Join award-winning journalist <strong>Karen Hao<\/strong> and <strong>Patrick Barry<\/strong>, clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, for an eye-opening discussion on <strong>Hao\u2019s best-selling book, \u201cEmpire of AI.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the first reporter to gain extensive access to OpenAI when its founder, Sam Altman, promoted it as an altruistic research non-profit, Hao has followed the company\u2019s meteoric rise. Drawing on seven years of reporting across five continents, Hao sheds light on the hidden impacts of AI \u2014&nbsp; from the exploitation of data workers in the Global South to the immense environmental costs of its energy and water consumption. Discover whose priorities are being advanced, whose voices are overlooked, and how we can work together to build a more equitable future for the world with AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-small-font-size wp-elements-4147bd669f71b5d1ebb56cfa90581cd8\">\u201cEmpire of AI\u201d will be available for purchase from BookSweet at the event. The author will stay for a short book signing after the program.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-call-to-action uagb-block-6b5819c3 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-cta__wrap\"><p class=\"uagb-cta__desc\">Register for this Wallace House event<em>, <\/em>co-sponsored by ITS and Dissonance.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"uagb-cta__buttons\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSeDMuar8fGZb5OV3aivv47-hkACim-W16z6Ay-b7iK8gAezFQ\/viewform?usp=dialog\" class=\"uagb-cta__button-link-wrapper wp-block-button__link\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Register<svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M504.3 273.6l-112.1 104c-6.992 6.484-17.18 8.218-25.94 4.406c-8.758-3.812-14.42-12.45-14.42-21.1L351.9 288H32C14.33 288 .0002 273.7 .0002 255.1S14.33 224 32 224h319.9l0-72c0-9.547 5.66-18.19 14.42-22c8.754-3.809 18.95-2.075 25.94 4.41l112.1 104C514.6 247.9 514.6 264.1 504.3 273.6z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Registrations are not required, but allow us to send you event updates and reminders. View more details of the event on the <a href=\"https:\/\/safecomputing.umich.edu\/Events\/Dissonance\/Karen-Hao\">Safe Computing Dissonance events page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Join award-winning journalist Karen Hao and Patrick Barry, clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, for an eye-opening discussion on Hao\u2019s best-selling book, \u201cEmpire of AI.\u201d Monday, October 20, 5 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":29450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_umich_oidc_access":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1067,27,4],"tags":[61,941],"class_list":["post-29452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-safe-computing","category-features","tag-ai","tag-dissonance"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal.jpg",980,640,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-400x266.jpg",400,266,true],"medium":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-300x196.jpg",300,196,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-768x502.jpg",665,435,true],"large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-600x392.jpg",600,392,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal.jpg",980,640,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal.jpg",980,640,false],"excerpt-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-200x140.jpg",200,140,true],"themonic-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-60x42.jpg",60,42,true],"ioslider-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-658x300.jpg",658,300,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-665x434.jpg",665,434,true],"400x250-crop":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Karen-Hao-Bridget-Weise-Knyal-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Bridget Weise Knyal, ITS Privacy Office","author_link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/author\/bweise\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Join award-winning journalist Karen Hao and Patrick Barry, clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, for an eye-opening discussion on Hao\u2019s best-selling book, \u201cEmpire of AI.\u201d Monday, October 20, 5 p.m.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29452"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29454,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29452\/revisions\/29454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}