'Empire of AI' author on OpenAI's cult of AGI and why Sam Altman tried to discredit her book

When OpenAI unleashed ChatGPT on the world in November 2022, it lit the fuse that ignited the generative AI era. But Karen Hao, author of the new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI, had already been covering OpenAI for years. The book comes out on May 20, and it reveals surprising new details about the company's culture of secrecy and religious devotion to the promise of AGI, or artificial general intelligence. Hao profiled the company for MIT Technology Review two years before ChatGPT launched, putting it on the map as a world-changing company. Now, she's giving readers an inside look at pivotal moments in the history of artificial intelligence, including the moment when OpenAI's board forced out CEO and cofounder Sam Altman. Empire of AI dispels any doubt that OpenAI's belief in ushering in AGI to benefit all of humanity had messianic undertones.