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Everyone’s talking about artificial general intelligence (AGI) — but does anyone actually know what it is?
In this gripping episode of Invisible Machines, journalist Karen Hao joins hosts Robb Wilson and Josh Tyson to discuss her instant New York Times bestseller, Empire of AI. The book uncovers OpenAI’s dramatic evolution — from its origins as a nonprofit committed to transparency to a powerful organization whose mission has become harder to pin down.
Karen draws from over a decade of investigative reporting to explore the murky ethics surrounding AGI, revealing how AI colonialism, data bias, and unchecked ambition threaten to narrow what superintelligence could be — undermining the very diversity it should represent.
But there’s hope. The trio highlight a small nonprofit in New Zealand using AI to preserve the Māori language. It’s a story of intentional design, cultural sensitivity, and the power of curated data over brute force. In a world obsessed with scaling, this example offers a compelling alternative: AI grounded in purpose.
Big tech. Big promises. Big questions. Listen in as Karen, Robb, and Josh dig deep into what we’re really building — and who it’s for.
