Karen Hao: Rebel against the Empire
From The Age Of Intelligence by Tim Gordon, Theos Evgeniou
September 28, 2025 · 59 min · Season 1 · Episode 7
About this episode
Karen Hao discusses the power structures of AI and critiques the current business models and regulatory efforts.
In this episode, we sit down with Karen Hao—award-winning journalist, MIT-trained engineer, TIME 100 AI honoree, and author of the best-seller Empire of AI—to unpack the power structures shaping today’s AI, business, and competition. She has a clear and punchy point of view. In our conversation we ask: - Is the Silicon Valley–Wall Street model the only way forward, or others can chart a better path? - Do paradigm shifts like AI inevitably create harmful externalities—hidden data workers, energy and water shortages—just as the Industrial Revolution created pollution and child labor? - Are today’s billion-dollar AI investments solving big problems—or just fuelling hype? - Are we consciously shaping AI—or sleepwalking in “a dream made in the Valley”? Karen argues that today’s AI giants act as modern empires: claiming resources that aren’t theirs, exploiting vulnerable labour, monopolizing knowledge, and sustaining themselves with a narrative of existential competition. She shows how many tools we use were born from subjective and often ad-hoc decisions—like scraping even the murkiest corners of the…
People in this episode
Hosts: Tim Gordon, Theos Evgeniou
Guest: Karen Hao
Topics covered
- AI power structures
- business competition
- regulatory challenges
- investment in AI
- ethical implications of AI
Keywords
- AI
- business
- competition
- regulation
- investment
- Silicon Valley
- Big Tech
- ethical implications
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: MIT, TIME, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, Big Tech
Books & works: Empire of AI
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