Paris Marx is joined by Karen Hao to discuss how Sam Altman’s goal of scale at all costs has spawned a new empire founded on exploitation of people and the environment, resulting in not only the loss of valuable research into more inventive AI systems, but also exacerbated data privacy issues, intellectual property erosion, and the perpetuation of surveillan ... Show More
Jul 2025
How today’s AI giants mirror global empires of the past, with journalist Karen Hao
<p>In her New York Times bestseller “Empire of AI,” journalist Karen Hao traces the rise of an intriguing and controversial tech giant: OpenAI. In years spent chronicling the company, she came to a theory of how OpenAI’s operating model mimics imperialist empires of the past – an ... Show More
38m 16s
Jul 2025
Downstream: Exposing The True Costs of AI w/ Karen Hao
As AI begins to fundamentally alter our lives, we’re in urgent need of expert voices who both understand how the technology works and are capable of scrutinising its effects. In her new book, Empire of AI, tech reporter and former Silicon Valley engineer Karen Hao debunks the myt ... Show More
1h 29m
May 2025
Decolonizing the Future: Karen Hao on Resisting the Empire of AI
In his New York Times review of the book, Columbia Law School professor and former White House official Tim Wu calls journalist Karen Hao’s new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, “a corrective to tech journalism that rarely leaves Silicon Valley.” H ... Show More
44m 32s
Jan 2025
How DeepSeek is shaking up the world of AI
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot launched last week, has shaken up the tech world and fuelled a new AI race between China, Europe and the US. The creators of the app say that it cost just $6 million to make compared to the billions spent by giants like Microsoft and Google. Amid th ... Show More
13m 55s
Apr 2023
Do we need technological progress? | Kenneth Cukier, Nolen Gertz, Caitjan Gainty
Is technology holding us back?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesFrom work to entertainment, communication to travel, technology has shaped every aspect of our lives. We think technological progress is relentless and inevitable. But ... Show More
47m 52s
Nov 2024
Petra Molnar, "The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" (New Press, 2024)
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it was training “robot dogs” to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border against migrants. Four-legged machines equipped with cameras and sensors would join a network of drones and automated surveillance towers—nicknamed the “ ... Show More
26m 38s