Thinking on Paper: Technology Moves Fast, Think Slower The Empire of AI: Sam Altman’s Rise and the Battle for Power - Part 1
OpenAI was founded to build AI “for the good of humanity.” But behind the mission statement lies a story of money, power, and control.
In this Book Club, we read part 1 of Empire of AI by Karen Hao — a book some are already calling the most important of the decade. From Sam Altman’s rise in Silicon Valley to Elon Musk’s early power struggle, from Microsoft’s billion-dollar lifeline to the boardroom coup that almost ended Sam Altman's role as CEO at OpenAI, this is the making of an empire.
In Part One, Mark and Jeremy Think on Paper about:
📒 How Sam Altman became Silicon Valley’s Michael Corleone
📒 Why empires always hide collateral damage
📒 The myths and marketing that disguise AI’s true purpose
📒 The role of Microsoft and Bill Gates in shaping OpenAI’s future
📒 Why “for the good of humanity” became an afterthought
Empires don’t last forever. But while they rise, the costs are enormous.
Please enjoy the show.
Stay disruptive. Be curious, Keep Thinking on Paper.
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Chapters
(00:00) Introduction to Empire of AI
(01:54) The Empire Strikes Back
(05:13) Karen Hao, The Journalist
(07:38) Do You Trust Open AI?
(10:18) Why OpenAI Made ChatGPT
(11:47) Scaling OpenAI
(12:33) Google, Deep Mind and Ai For humanity
(15:12) Greg Brockman
(17:02) Sam Altman's Personal Brand 24:46 Timnit Gebru
(25:25) How does AI benefit humanity?
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Watch the book club on our dedicated YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/OfQu65-6GuA