Karen Hao

Career

Hao came to journalism from the technology industry, having worked as an application engineer at a startup spun out of Google X. Hao was previously a senior AI editor at MIT Technology Review and a reporter covering American and Chinese technology companies for The Wall Street Journal, and wrote a weekly newsletter, The Algorithm.¹

Hao now divides time between freelance reporting, speaking and collaborative projects, and has produced short documentaries for More Perfect Union and co-hosted the BBC podcast The Interface. Hao sits on the board of the research institute AI Now and co-created the Pulitzer Center's AI Spotlight Series, which trains journalists to report on AI.¹

Reporting

Hao's selected writing spans explainers and investigations. It includes a 2018 explainer on how bias enters AI systems, illustrated flowcharts on AI and machine learning, a 2019 analysis of trends in AI research papers, an interactive courtroom-algorithm game and, in 2020, a piece on OpenAI. Later pieces examined the human workers who filtered violence and abuse out of ChatGPT and AI's demand for water in desert regions.⁴

Empire of AI

Hao's book Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI was published by Penguin Press on May 20, 2025. Drawing on reporting that began with Hao's coverage of OpenAI in 2019, it follows the company alongside the engineers, data workers and communities affected by the AI industry's demand for computing power, data, energy and water.³²

The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction for publishing year 2025, announced in March 2026. Hao's site lists further awards for it, among them the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, and a range of translated editions.⁵²

Work and contributions

• Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI Show, channel or publication

  Author of the book, an account of OpenAI and the AI industry, published by Penguin Press.³²

Timeline

1. 2018Published explainers on AI bias and illustrated flowcharts on AI and machine learning at MIT Technology Review.⁴
2. 2019Published a data analysis of AI research papers and an interactive game on courtroom algorithms.⁴
3. 2020Published a piece on the reality behind OpenAI's stated mission.⁴
4. 2023Reported on the human workers who filtered violence and abuse out of ChatGPT.⁴
5. May 20, 2025Published Empire of AI with Penguin Press.³
6. Mar 26, 2026Won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction for Empire of AI.⁵

Other documented roles

Roles the sources document that are not confirmed as current.

• Reporter, The Wall Street Journal¹
• Senior AI editor, MIT Technology Review¹

Honors and recognition

• National Magazine Award for outstanding achievement for magazine journalists under the age of 30 · American Society of Magazine Editors, 2022¹
• American Humanist Media Award · American Humanist Association, 2024¹
• National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction (Empire of AI) · National Book Critics Circle, 2026⁵
• Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism (Empire of AI) · New York Public Library²
• Los Angeles Times Book Award (Empire of AI) · Los Angeles Times²

Where they work

• Freelance journalist 1 person in the wiki
• AI Now Institute 2 people in the wiki

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