As artificial intelligence begins to fundamentally alter the way normal people live their lives, it’s often talked about in terms of boom and doom, which makes a nuanced examination difficult. The problem with AI is that the understanding required to scrutinise the technology is rare and even if one does have that understanding, the ability to clearly communicate it is even rarer.

This week’s guest has been both a worker in, and reporter on the tech industry and is uniquely poised to present a nuanced and informed analysis of this rapidly expanding industry. In her new book, Empire of AI, Karen Hao debunks myths that surround AI and exposes us to the full breadth of this global industry, from it’s cult leader-like CEOs to the workers that power the technology.

She sat down with Aaron to talk about Sam Altman’s origin story, the traumatising nature of content moderation work and the striking similarities between Open AI and the British East India Company.

00:00 Intro
03:11 AI, Deep Learning u0026 Machine Learning Explained
09:27 Data Centres u0026 Resource Consumption
14:30 Who Are The Major Players
23:17 What’s Behind Open AI’s Rapid Rise
32:50 Who Is Sam Altman?
45:40 Who Is Karen Hao?
51:49 Colonial Similarities To AI Companies
01:07:39 DeepSeek
01:11:49 Exploitative Practices In Global South
01:22:00 How To Stop Big Tech