Empire of AI: Inside OpenAI’s Race to Conquer the Future | Karen Hao

Video Description

In Episode 418 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas sits down with award-winning journalist Karen Hao to discuss Empire of AI — her inside account of how OpenAI evolved from an idealistic, safety-first nonprofit into one of the world’s most valuable private companies in its race to conquer the future. This conversation takes you inside that transformation—from the heady idealism of OpenAI’s founding, through the billion-dollar Microsoft deal and the 2023 boardroom coup, to the unresolved questions that hang over Silicon Valley and Washington alike about the private concentration of power in the age of artificial intelligence and the nature of the world we are building. Whether you’re an investor, a policymaker, or simply a concerned citizen trying to make sense of today’s headlines, this episode will equip you with the context you need to understand what’s really at stake in the race for AGI—and the levers we still have to steer it. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at https://hiddenforces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. 00:00 Introduction 03:25 Karen Howe's Background 06:45 The Inside Story of OpenAI 12:11 Sam Altman and the Founding of OpenAI 14:32 The Role of Elon Musk in OpenAI's Early Days 24:36 The Shift to Computational Power 34:51 The Shift to For-Profit and Musk's Exit 36:19 The Microsoft Partnership 37:42 The 2023 Boardroom Coup 44:58 The Alignment Problem and Commercialization 47:05 The Hidden AI Supply Chain 55:11 The New AI Empires If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts at https://apple.co/3fLSIgR Write us a review on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/3tv4zYr Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Follow Hidden Forces on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kofinas Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 05/12/2025