Empire of AI
Empire of AI by Karen Haoby Karen Hao
Shares rank 11 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
Reporting from inside AI companies on OpenAI and the industry, praised as strong journalism. Critics say its water-use figures contain major errors and its tone is one-sided.
Reporting from inside AI companies on OpenAI and the industry, praised as strong journalism. Critics say its water-use figures contain major errors and its tone is one-sided.
35 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 20
- approval share
- 43%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong reporting on AI companies
“One of the few journalists who knows the subject and its possible detrimental usage by a handful of AI companies.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “Interview with Karen Hao, Author of "Empire of AI" [video]” “it's not surface-level at all. Karen Hao is a great journalist. Highly recommend.”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “The $100B Megadeal Between OpenAI and Nvidia Is on Ice” “This book brings the story of what actually goes on within those companies.”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: End of Year Book Recommendations” - Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “Mark Zuckerberg overruled 18 wellbeing experts to keep beauty filters on Insta”
- Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “AGI fantasy is a blocker to actual engineering”
Good book, worth reading
“Empire of AI is actually a pretty good book overall”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Empire of AI is wildly misleading about AI water use” “Heard good things of Empire of AI By Karen Hao”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Reverse centaurs are the answer to the AI paradox” “You need to read Empire of AI by Karen Hao.”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “US Government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5” - Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “AGI fantasy is a blocker to actual engineering”
Useful history of what AI means
“Karen Hao makes a very good historical case that the definition of AI has never been super clear”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Marcus AI Claims Dataset” “for a book that surveys pretty much all of it”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Rob Pike got spammed with an AI slop "act of kindness"”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Water-use figures contain major errors
“He also caught a major error in one of the most widely read books that helped kick off the whole data center water debate”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Emily Bender Sets the Record Straight on "Stochastic Parrots"” “Karen Hao's (Empire of AI) confusion of cubic meters with liters of water for datacenters continues to get amplified”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country” “calling several multiple OOM mistakes that completely reverse the ideologically convenient picture she painted”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Empire of AI is wildly misleading about AI water use” - Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “AGI fantasy is a blocker to actual engineering”
- Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Maine Is About to Become the First State to Ban Major New Data Centers”
- Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “EPA says power for data centers can sidestep pollution laws”
- Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?”
- Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “EPA says power for data centers can sidestep pollution laws”
- Comment from 1 May 2026 in “AI Uses Less Water Than the Public Thinks”
- Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “EPA says power for data centers can sidestep pollution laws”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Cliff Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Empire of AIby Karen HaoThis page | 15 | 20 | 43% | 9 | — | — |
What people said
31 of the 36 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“should give the book away to every single adult in the USA, free of charge”
“there are some chapters in the latter parts of the book replete with references to such events”
“exaggerating water usage by 1,000x in her book”
“caught exaggerating water usage by 1,000x in her book”
“Karen Hao was caught exaggerating water usage by 1,000x in her book”
“it takes such a scattergun approach and doesn't really build a coherent thesis”
“she got water usage wrong by three orders of magnitude”
“Heard good things of Empire of AI By Karen Hao”
“He also caught a major error in one of the most widely read books that helped kick off the whole data center water debate”
“You need to read Empire of AI by Karen Hao.”
“Karen Hao's (Empire of AI) confusion of cubic meters with liters of water for datacenters continues to get amplified”
“seriously did permanent damage on this talking point”
“If you want to read more about how unsavory aspects of AI-training are off-loaded onto poor workers in third-world countries, would recommend Karen Hao's "Empire of AI".”
“erroneously imputing that the average human uses only 200 cc of water per day”
“Karen Hao makes a very good historical case that the definition of AI has never been super clear”
“Empire of AI was quite bad”
“incredibly sour and pessimistic, choosing to present only one side of the story”
“provides new insight into the coup that outed Altman a couple years ago”
“The second one is a bunch of SJW hand-wringing about things that are only tangentially related”
“it's not surface-level at all. Karen Hao is a great journalist. Highly recommend.”
“According to the book "Empire of AI" about OpenAI, he lies constantly, even about things that are too trivial to matter.”
“for a book that surveys pretty much all of it”
“This book brings the story of what actually goes on within those companies.”
“Empire of AI is actually a pretty good book overall”
“I don't think Hao's framing of Empire/Colonialism is really the right way to look at it at all”
“calling several multiple OOM mistakes that completely reverse the ideologically convenient picture she painted”
“there seems to be a critical error in the reporting of metrics in this book for the water issue”
“Thanks for the recommendation, added to my reading list.”
“what changed my mind was reading Hao's book”
“Hao is a highly credited journalist.”
“One of the few journalists who knows the subject and its possible detrimental usage by a handful of AI companies.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.