Journalist Karen Hao on Sam Altman, OpenAI & the "Quasi-Religious" Push for Artificial Intelligence

Democracy Now! July 4, 2025
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Democracy Now! is a viewer-supported independent, global weekday news hour anchored by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. The show is broadcast on more than 1,500 TV, radio and internet stations. Stream the show live Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. ET at http://www.democracynow.org.

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Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt As part of our July Fourth special broadcast, we continue our extended interview with Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI. The book documents the rise of OpenAI and how the AI industry is leading to a new form of colonialism. "One of the things that you really have to understand about AI development today is that there are what I call quasi-religious movements that have developed within Silicon Valley," says Hao. "The concept of artificial general intelligence is not one that's scientifically grounded." (Thumbnail photo credit: Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch via Flickr Creative Commons) Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

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