Karen Howe, a renowned journalist and author of "Empire of AI," explores the troubling implications of artificial intelligence on democracy. She discusses the scale-at-all-costs mentality of Silicon Valley and its demands on resources like energy and water. Howe highlights how AI firms are entwined with the military and the exploitation of marginalized workers in data annotation. She also critiques the geopolitical AI race and advocates for community-led initiatives, like a Maori project in New Zealand that ethically revives language through AI.