Empire of AI

Most Replayed Moment: How AI Companies Are Gaslighting You - Karen Hao

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett, 23 October 2026. The author is the guest. The book comes up at 10 min 59 sec in.

Karen Hao, the book's author, discusses Empire of AI at length. The book covers the AI industry and includes an account of Dr. Timnit Gebru's firing from Google, and an email Sam Altman sent criticising Hao's 2020 MIT Technology Review profile of OpenAI. Hao describes OpenAI initially agreeing to participate in her reporting, then withdrawing access. She confirms that Sam Altman's public tweet distinguishing two author-approved books from unnamed others was aimed at her work.

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