NONFICTION – Empire of AI

Join the Story Line Books Nonfiction Book Club as we discuss Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao.

Drawing on years of reporting and extraordinary access to the people shaping the artificial intelligence boom, Hao takes readers inside the rise of OpenAI—from its idealistic beginnings as a nonprofit devoted to developing AI safely to its transformation into one of the most powerful forces in the global technology race. Along the way, she looks beyond Silicon Valley to the enormous resources that make AI possible: data, energy, water, computing power, and the often-invisible labor of workers around the world.

Part corporate history, part investigation, and part examination of power, Empire of AI asks urgent questions about who is building the technology rapidly reshaping our lives, who bears its costs, and who gets to decide what the future of AI should look like.

Come ready for a lively conversation about technology, ambition, labor, environmental impact, corporate power, and what responsibility looks like in the age of AI.

All are welcome—even if you haven’t finished the book!