Intelligent Machines 835

Go behind the curtain at OpenAI as bestselling author Karen Hao shares stories of infighting, ego, and shifting agendas. Find out why even OpenAI's security had her face on alert during her investigation.

• Karen Hao reveals OpenAI's secretive culture and early ambitions
• OpenAI's shifting leadership and transparency: from nonprofit roots to Big Tech power
• Defining AGI: moving goalposts, internal rifts, and philosophy debates
• OpenAI's founders dissected: Altman, Brockman, and Sutskever's styles and motives
• Critiquing the AI industry's resource grabs and "AI imperialism"
• How commercialization narrowed AI research and the dominance of transformers
• China's AI threat as Silicon Valley's favorite justification, debunked
• Karen Hao details reporting process and boardroom chaos at OpenAI
• GPT-5 skepticism: raised expectations, lackluster reality, and demo fatigue
• Karen Hao's bottom line: AI's current trajectory isn't inevitable — pushback is needed
• Harper Reed shares vibe coding workflows using Claude Code

• AI commoditization—why all major models start to feel the same

• Western vs. Chinese open-source models and global AI power shifts

• Google antitrust ruling: AI's rise dissolves traditional search monopoly
• "Algorithm movies" spark debate over art, entertainment, and AI's creative impact

• Meta's AI talent grab backfires amid exits and cash-fueled drama
• Anthropic's "historic" author settlement likely cements fair use for AI training

• DIY facial recognition: Citizen activists unmask ICE using AI tools

• Picks: Byte Magazine's 50th, AI werewolf games, Berghain bouncer AI test, and arthouse film "Perfect Days"

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• Tech: Inside OpenAI: Karen Hao’s Deep Dive on “Empire of AI”
• Transcripts: Intelligent Machines 835 Transcript

Links

• "Empire of AI" (Amazon Affiliate Link)
• Should LLMs be WEIRD? Exploring WEIRDness and Human Rights in Large Language Models What Will Happen to Google After the Antitrust Ruling?
• What Will Happen to Google After the Antitrust Ruling?
• Google Barred From Exclusive Search Deals but Avoids Harsh U.S. Court Remedies
• New Yorker: A.I. Is Coming for Culture
• Bland, easy to follow, for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films?
• Zuckerberg’s AI hires disrupt Meta with swift exits and threats to leave
• The Fever Dream of Imminent Superintelligence Is Finally Breaking
• Salesforce CEO Says AI Enabled Him To Cut 4,000 Jobs - Slashdot
• Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
• Anthropic raises $13 billion in Series F round, doubles valuation - Fast Company
• Data Rescue Project
• Byte at 50
• Berghain Bouncer Challenge
• "Pimp My Roomba": designing for personalization
• Probing LLM Social Intelligence via Werewolf – First Results
• Perfect Days
• Kamome Diner