AI Whistleblower: We Are Being Gaslit By The AI Companies! They’re Hiding The Truth About AI
The truth about Sam Altman. AI Critic Karen Hao reveals what 90 OpenAI employees told her.
Karen Hao is an AI expert, award-winning investigative journalist, and former reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering American and Chinese tech companies. She is also co-host of the podcast The Interface and freelances for publications like More Perfect Union and The Atlantic. Her latest book is the bestselling ‘EMPIRE OF AI: Inside The Reckless Race For Total Domination.’
She explains:
◼️Why the US-China “AI arms race” may be misleading and politically driven
◼️The truth behind the Pentagon using Claude for military strikes
◼️Why AGI is a marketing scam used to consolidate trillion-dollar power
◼️How agentic AI like OpenClaw will automate desk jobs within 18 months
◼️The hidden human cost behind AI training
Chapters
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:27 Why The AI Industry May Be Chasing Profit Over Progress
00:04:49 What 250 OpenAI Insiders Revealed Behind Closed Doors
00:10:48 Did Sam Altman Outmaneuver Elon Musk—Or Is There More To It?
00:14:47 What People Really Think About Sam Altman (And Why It Matters)
00:17:34 The Hidden Power Struggle To Remove Sam Altman
00:25:14 The Real Reason Companies Are Racing To Build AI
00:31:35 Do AI CEOs Truly Believe This Will Help Humanity?
00:33:08 Why OpenAI Refused To Be Part Of This Book
00:41:47 Why Sam Altman Was Forced Out
00:45:18 The Hidden Instability, What Was Altman Actually Disrupting Internally?
00:50:53 Ad Break
00:54:15 What Really Triggered Sam Altman’s Firing—And The Mass Exodus After
01:04:51 Should You Vote Based On AI Policies—And What’s At Stake?
01:12:30 How Robots Updating Instantly Could Change Everything
01:15:11 Will AI Surpass The Best Surgeons—And What Happens If It Does?
01:18:57 Are Self-Driving Cars Truly Safe
01:25:00 Which Jobs Actually Survive AI And Who Gets Left Behind?
01:35:03 What The Klarna CEO Reveals About The Future Of AI And Business
01:38:09 Ad Break
01:41:58 Is AI Quietly Eroding Meaning—And Impacting Health And The Planet?
01:50:52 How We Can Actually Build AI Without Putting Humanity At Risk
01:56:44 Will The AI Race Ever Slow Down Or Are We Past The Point Of Control?
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Karen Hao on the making of a $90B AI empire
Karen Hao, the bestselling author of "Empire of AI," has watched OpenAI go from a nonprofit “laughingstock” into a $90 billion powerhouse chasing artificial general intelligence at breakneck speeds. Hao, who first profiled the company back in 2020, says early visions of building AI “for humanity’s benefit” were quickly overtaken by a familiar Silicon Valley mindset: Move fast, break things, and let scale be the measure of success.
This week, Hao joined TechCrunch’s Equity podcast to unpack the direction the AI boom is going and who’s paying the price. Hao argues that, like historical empires, today’s AI giants rely on resource-hoarding and exploitative labor to amass political and economic power, and they’re doing so at the expense of the environment. For investors and founders, it’s a clear signal that AI’s current path carries real risks, and that there’s room to build a better model.
Listen to the full episode to hear:
How OpenAI's three internal "clans" warred to shape the company's trajectory
The hidden human costs of data labeling in developing countries
How the "China competition" narrative serves Silicon Valley's interests
Where founders might find different opportunities beyond the pursuit of AGI
Equity will be back Friday with our weekly news roundup, so stay tuned.
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
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Bad Apple + The Rise of the AI Empire + Italian Brain Rot
This week, iPhone users started to feel the impact of a stern court order against Apple that requires the company to stop collecting a commission on some app sales. We break down what this means for apps like Kindle and Spotify and why the judge suggested that Apple and a top executive should be investigated for criminal contempt. Then, Karen Hao joins us to discuss her new book about OpenAI and explain why she believes the benefits of using the company’s tools do not outweigh the moral costs. And finally, Casey introduces Kevin to a strange new universe of A.I. slop that’s racking up millions of likes on TikTok.
Guest:
Karen Hao, Author of “Empire of AI”
Additional Reading:
Judge Rebukes Apple and Orders It to Loosen Grip on App Store
Brain Rot Comes for Italy
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Bonus Episode: Artificial Intelligence Podcasts With Jennifer Strong
While Me, Myself, and AI is on winter break, we hope you enjoy this episode. Jennifer Strong, longtime journalist and creator of the SHIFT podcast, joins Sam and Shervin to talk about their favorite Me, Myself, and AI episodes. Read the episode transcript here.
Find the additional podcasts mentioned in the episode below:
SHIFT podcast
In Machines We Trust
WSJ’s The Future of Everything
Guest Bio:
Jennifer Strong is an audio journalist covering the impact of AI on the way we live and work. She’s the creator of several tech podcasts for newsrooms, including ProPublica, The Wall Street Journal, and MIT Technology Review. Her podcast SHIFT, with the Public Radio Exchange, covers "the far-reaching impact of automation on our daily lives," according to Apple Podcasts.
Her reporting has been widely recognized, including six Webby and three Podcast Academy Award nominations. Her narrative podcasts were finalists at the New York Festivals for the last two years, and a finalist for Podcast of the Year by The Drum Awards in London for a taping she did inside an experimental fighter plane.
Strong has also produced a business show for NPR and reported on national security for PRI. She’s been a keynote stage host and moderator at the AI for Good Global Summit, The Future of Everything Festival, Web Summit, among others.
Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Alanna Hooper.
Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn.
We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.
#157 Karen Hao: Inside OpenAI's Tumultuous Saga
This episode is sponsored by ISS, a leading global provider of video intelligence and data awareness solutions. ISS offers a robust portfolio of AI-powered, high-trust video analytics for streamlining security, safety and business operations within a wide range of vertical markets. So, what do you want to know about your environment?
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On episode #155 of Eye on AI, Craig Smith sits down with Karen Hao, who is currently a contributing writer for The Atlantic with an impressive background as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong and as a senior artificial intelligence editor at MIT Technology Review.
Known for her incisive coverage of AI, including its ethical and societal implications, Hao brings a wealth of knowledge from her experiences in journalism and data science.
In this episode, Karen delves into the recent controversies surrounding OpenAI, shedding light on the power struggles, ethical dilemmas, and corporate alliances shaping the future of artificial intelligence. Her unique perspective, gained from her experience as a foreign correspondent and senior AI editor, offers a deep understanding of the complexities that exist in the AI world.
We explore the intricate narrative constructed by OpenAI, its relationship with giants like Microsoft, and the broader implications of these partnerships on AI development and ethics. Karen's critical analysis provides an insightful look into the often opaque world of AI and its global impact.
If you find this discussion as enlightening as we did, please consider leaving a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(02:28) Karen Hao's Background and Entry into Tech Journalism
(09:14) OpenAI's GPT-2 Controversy and Company Evolution
(11:35) Nonprofit and For-Profit Structure of OpenAI
(15:26) OpenAI Board Dynamics and Power Struggles
(18:07) Transparency and Open Source in AI Development
(21:27) Future of OpenAI and Tech Industry Speculations
(26:22) Microsoft's Investment and Partnership with OpenAI
(31:28) Sam Altman's Potential Chip Company Endeavor
(33:20) AGI Speculations and Existential Risks
(34:38) AGI Definitions and Real-World AI Limitations
DTNS Special: AI and Machine Learning Explained
We talk about artificial intelligence a lot these days and I see several reactions in the audience. Some people think it's ALL hype. Some people think it's just a fancy word for algorithm. And some people just want to understand what it is.
Here to help us with that is
Karen Hao, artificial intelligence reporter at MIT Technology Review and host of the newsletter The Algorithm.
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