Congratulations to Karen Hao, winner of a 2026 Whiting Award in Nonfiction. #WhitingAwards2026

Congratulations, @karenhao.bsky.social! This weekend Empire of AI won the @latimes.com Book Prize for Science and Technology.

www.latimes.com/about/pressr...

The nonfiction prize was awarded to the journalist Karen Hao for “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI,” a timely and unsettling look at the rise of OpenAI and the culture of secrecy within the company. Along with the National Book Awards and the Pulitzer Prizes, the National Book Critics Circle Awards are among the most distinguished literary prizes in the United States. Unlike with those prizes, the winners are chosen solely by book critics and review editors.

🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

Empire of AI wins the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction

Omg???????

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/b...

AI Whistleblower: We Are Being Gaslit By The AI Companies! They’re Hiding The Truth About AI! YouTube video by The Diary Of A CEO

Steven Bartlett, host of The Dairy Of A CEO, is a masterful interviewer. He asked probing questions, challenged me through respectful debate & was incredibly generous with giving me the space to go deep on my reporting & analysis.

Pleased to share our conversation:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8H...

Karen Hao and Naomi Klein on stage at the Chan Centre.

Karen Hao and Naomi Klein on stage at the Chan Centre with 1200+ people in the audience.

Karen Hao and Naomi Klein on stage at the Chan Centre with 1200+ people in the audience.

Karen Hao and Naomi Klein on stage at the Chan Centre.

I still can't believe this happened. Over 1,200 people in the audience.

@naomiaklein.bsky.social, thank you for bringing me to Vancouver. What a privilege and an honor 💗

Watch a replay of the conversation here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1B_...

📸: Jan Gates

Ha who knows!! Too much laughing?

The Interface Listen to The Interface

To get a dose of that very American American energy, you can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts: app.magellan.ai/listen_links...

As we’re discussing the unreal warping reality, let’s bring in The Interface, a podcast about tech and how it impacts on our lives. It’s hosted by two very American Americans – the boisterous Thomas Germain and Karen Hao – as well as the more self-effacing British investigative journalist Nicky Woolf, known for his excellent series Finding Q: My Journey into QAnon and Fur and Loathing. All three presenters are hugely well informed.

The Brits don't know what to do with our new BBC podcast The Interface, @thomasgermain.bsky.social & @nickywoolf.bsky.social.

Lovely shoutout from @observeruk.bsky.social. observer.co.uk/culture/audi...

Reclaiming our Humanity in the Age of AI YouTube video by SXSW

Not to toot our own horns but I feel like we packed so much in this one hour panel with @karenhao.bsky.social and John Palfrey.

You can find the recording at www.youtube.com/live/I1tJnM8...

Watch us on YouTube if you're outside the UK: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYVH...

Or anyone can listen wherever you get your podcasts: app.magellan.ai/listen_links...

Is Havana Syndrome REAL? YouTube video by BBC Podcasts

Remember Havana Syndrome? In 2017 US diplomats in Cuba started mysteriously suffering brain damage after hearing a noise.

Many thought it a conspiracy theory. After investigating, @nickywoolf.bsky.social concluded it wasn't.

He was right.

This week on The Interface youtube.com/watch?v=UYVHzkq2X7Y

So excited to join the board of this phenomenal organization. AI Now has played a defining role in shaping how I understand my work as a journalist: to hold the AI industry accountable and radically reimagine how this technology could distribute, rather than consolidate, power.

"During one site visit in early 2025, OpenAI employee Keith Heyde joked with colleagues that he could assess the amount of clay in the soil just by tasting it. Then he crouched down, grabbed a pinch of earth and put it in his mouth. The moment became an inside joke, but it also showed just how determined the team was to understand the locations where they wanted to build data centers. (Heyde left OpenAI a few weeks ago.)"

Incredible reporting from @anissa.bsky.social in @theinformation.com about OpenAI's struggle to get more computing power as Stargate—its $500B data center buildout—has floundered.

theinformation.com/articles/ins...

It also includes this detail. We are in the dirt-eating phase of the AI hype cycle.

Goertzel vs Epstein Addressing questions regarding the Epstein Files and my AGI work

Ben's response on his Substack: bengoertzel.substack.com/p/goertzel-v...

We HACKED ChatGPT and it was easy YouTube video by BBC Podcasts

And for those of you outside the UK, watch us on YouTube. youtu.be/_fUzhlLJ5hY?...

My co-host Thomas Germain on our BBC podcast The Interface hacked ChatGPT in 24 hours.

The story is hilarious! And deeply concerning.

We also discuss the massive data center expansion around the world and the secret Starlink deployment to Iran.

Catch Ep 2 here:
app.magellan.ai/listen_links...

Goertzel to Epstein: Hey, so I'll be in New York for a few days... my SingularityNET colleagues and I are organizing a small invitation-only event Mon Dec 10 6-9PM for which an invite is attached (in a friend's penthouse apartment)... agenda of the event is to discuss the AI/blockchain intersection in general, and our new Singularity Studio enterprise-AI spinoff of SingularityNET in particular (we are planning an Equity Token Offering for Singularity Studio)... But if you'll be around we could perhaps alternately or additionally meet up 1-1 sometimes, I am free Sunday Dec 9 but also could find some time Dec 7 or the morning of Dec 10 ... let me know if you're in town and might spare a few moments... it's been a while! thx ;) ben

Goertzel invites Epstein to "small invitation-only event" to discuss AI/blockchain after Miami Herald investigation.

Goertzel to Epstein: About the issue of allowing conversion of real $$ into AGI Tokens.... I do understand there is greater legal/regulatory risk in doing it this way=.. On the other hand, I don't see any other way to make the thing really grow to exceed Google, FB etc. in size (or even become self-supporting)... Basically, we need real-world users who need Al services for their businesses to outsource their work to Agents in the SingularityNET and these real-world businesses have their assets in fiat currency... ...the world needs to have ways to turn fiat back and forth into AGI tokens... Eventually maybe not, if the AGI economy overtakes the normal-world economy. But for the AGI parasite to overcome to regular-human-economy host (so it can grow to be more than a parasite and eventually gain its own superhuman autonomy) it first needs to suck off the resources of the host, and these resources are now mainly expressed in fiat currency...

Goertzel discusses with Epstein future scenario for "an AGI economy":

"for the AGI parasite to overcome to regular-human-economy host (so it can grow to be more than a parasite and eventually gain its own superhuman autonomy) it first needs to suck off the resources of the host"

Goertzel to Epstein: Oh, by the way, I was so concerned about my AI project I didn't notice you mentioned your birthday in the chat... Happy birthday!! ;-) Now if you want to have 100000 more birthdays you should fund my AI project so we can create a thinking machine that will solve the problem of mortality!!! ;-D ben

Goertzel wishes Epstein happy birthday with request for more money.

"Now if you want to have 100000 more birthdays you should fund my AI project so we can create a thinking machine that will solve the problem of mortality!!! ;-D"

Epstein to Goertzel: "please send details i will send 50k monday" Goertzel to Epstein: "many many thanks! ... You won't regret it ;) The AI we build will thank you one day!"

Geortzel asks for more after Epstein is out of prison. Epstein says he will send another 50k

Goertzel to Epstein: "You won't regret it ;) The AI we build will thank you one day!"

Goertzel to Epstein: "Mechanically: a check for $2K should be sent to =he Singularity Institute for Al (a nonprofit), at my =ome address... " Epstein to Rich Kahn: "Send 5k"

Some notable exchanges:

Goertzel requests funding from Epstein while Epstein is in prison. Epstein directs 5k to be sent to the Singularity Institute.

Email from Epstein to Goertzel: "free and home" Goertzel replies: ";-))) Congratulations!!!! Actually, I was just about to send you an email summarizing my recent progress, current situation, and future hypothetical plans...I'll probably do so tomorrow. I'm sure you're super-swamped, but it would be great to get together when you have the chance... ben" Goertzel continues: "p.s. Also, the Singularity Summit (futurist conference, but with some good scientific speakers this year) will be in NY this year, Oct 3-4...and Oct 5-6, afterwards, there will be a brainstorming workshop I think you might enjoy (where, basically, the ~20 speakers from the Summit will get together and try to make conceptual progress on various future-science issues). I'll remind you again when the date gets closer!"

Ben Goertzel, popularizer of the term AGI and creator of the Sophia robot, congratulating Jeffrey Epstein the day after Epstein was released from prison.

Goertzel is mentioned in the files nearly 800 times, including well after the Miami Herald investigation in 2018.

I am so excited too!! Noami Klein is my hero. I will be fangirling hard.

The AI beef that CHANGED THE WORLD | Episode 1 | The Interface YouTube video by BBC Podcasts

And if you're outside the UK, you can watch us on YouTube too!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn_W...

Episode 1 is OUT!! 🥳 🙌

This week on The Interface, we discuss:
* That insane Superbowl ad for Ring
* The US TikTok takeover
* And the beef that launched ChatGPT

Listen wherever you get your podcasts: app.magellan.ai/listen_links...

I could not have imagined a better partner to capture this book in its entirety – not just the words and their literal meaning, but its spirit and mission.

Korean readers can order the book here 💗
product.kyobobook.co.kr/detail/S0002...

Fast forward to March of 2025, I was readying the launch of the English edition when Boyoung asked me if I had a Korean version in the works. I did not. She once again became my advocate, translating a sample of the book and pitching it to Korean publishers.

An MIT Technology Review Series: AI Colonialism An investigation into how AI is enriching a powerful few by dispossessing communities that have been dispossessed before.

In 2021, Boyoung was working at the @pulitzercenter.org when I applied for a grant to work on a series called “AI Colonialism.” Little did I know that the series would form the thesis of my book – and the inspiration for its title. www.technologyreview.com/supertopic/a...

The Korean edition of EMPIRE OF AI AI 제국: 권력, 자본, 노동

The Korean edition of EMPIRE OF AI is out — and this one is really special. 🥹

It was translated by my dear friend Boyoung Lim, who played a crucial role in making my book possible in the first place.

product.kyobobook.co.kr/detail/S0002...