Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the domain of coders and technologists − it’s shaping the world we live in, from the decisions governments make, to the way our children are taught and the jobs we hold.
As AI continues its rapid advance, the question we must ask is not whether it will transform our lives, but who controls that transformation, and to what end. This isn’t about machines; it’s about power, democracy and the people being left behind.
The birth of a new empire
Karen Hao’s Empire of AI (2025) offers a sobering account of how OpenAI, once a non-profit committed to open research for the good of humanity, has transformed into a closed, commercial powerhouse driving the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Hao embedded with the company in its early years and watched it evolve into what she now calls a “modern-day empire” − one that commands not just capital, but culture, influence and resources on a global scale.
Backed by Microsoft’s billions, OpenAI is no longer just advancing AI; it is shaping the very conditions under which it unfolds.
Faith, fear and the mythology of AGI
One of the most striking elements of Hao’s reporting is the near-religious intensity with which some insiders at OpenAI speak about AGI.
She recounts how co-founder Ilya Sutskever burned effigies symbolising rogue AI at company retreats − a ritualistic display of moral responsibility and existential dread.
The story unfolding before us is not just about machines.
This belief system isn’t just metaphorical. Hao interviewed staff who spoke in trembling voices about AGI either saving or destroying humanity. The mythology surrounding AGI has become, in her words, “self-fulfilling”, reflecting the intoxicating mix of power and uncertainty that defines Silicon Valley today.
The cost we don’t see
The pursuit of AGI comes at a heavy cost − borne most acutely by the Global South. Hao details how low-wage content moderators in Kenya were hired to filter graphic and abusive content generated by AI models.
Their labour, essential yet invisible, was outsourced for a few dollars an hour, with little concern for their mental well-being.
The physical infrastructure behind AI is just as concerning. In Chile, a proposed Google data centre aimed to extract more than a thousand times the freshwater used annually by a local community, sparking grassroots resistance.
Other voices, shared warnings
Karen Hao is not alone in this diagnosis. In Code Dependent (2024), Madhumita Murgia exposes how AI systems − praised for their efficiency − rely on human suffering, especially in regions with little regulatory protection.
Murgia’s work, published by Hodder & Stoughton, reinforces the idea that AI’s promise is propped up by the exploitation of unseen, underpaid workers.
Parmy Olson’s Supremacy (2024), which won the Financial Times Business Book of the Year, situates this technological race within a geopolitical context, highlighting how the US and China are locked in an AI arms race where ethics are secondary to dominance.
Dan McQuillan, in Resisting AI (2022), takes a more radical stance. He argues that AI is not just a neutral tool, but a system that often reproduces structural violence and control. His anti-fascist approach reimagines AI as something that must be reclaimed by citizens rather than dictated by private interests.
In The New Empire of AI (2024), Rachel Adams explores how the tech industry mimics the patterns of old colonial empires − exploiting data, labour and energy from the Global South, while consolidating power in the hands of the few. Her work, rooted in African and global policy analysis, provides critical perspectives often absent from Silicon Valley discourse.
A crisis of oversight
The rise of AI empires has also seen the collapse of transparency. Hao recalls a time when companies openly published their model weights, datasets and benchmarks. Now, such information is tightly guarded under the pretext of safety or competitiveness.
Recent US legislation proposing to block state-level AI regulation for a decade could lock in this impunity, undermining public oversight when it is needed most.
Reclaiming the future
The story unfolding before us is not just about machines. It’s about the people behind them − their ideologies, their motivations and their accountability.
It’s about the water that runs dry, the jobs displaced, the invisible labour that keeps the system running and the voices left unheard.
We cannot afford to look away. We must demand transparency, support ethical innovation and amplify the perspectives of those on the margins of the AI revolution.
If we believe in democracy, equity and a just future, then we must challenge the myth of technological inevitability. These systems are not preordained. They are built − by people, for people. And it’s time we all had a say in how that story unfolds.
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