What is “artificial intelligence”? Is it a fancy technology? A management consulting buzzword? A PR effort to inflate corporate share prices? A political project designed to shape the world more to the liking of the billionaire class? A way to replace needy human workers with machines?

Perhaps it’s all of that—and more. In her groundbreaking bookEmpire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, award-winning journalist Karen Hao argues that AI—and the profit-driven infrastructure that surrounds it—is a colonial project. What OpenAI boss Altman and his fellow ideologues in Silicon Valley are pursuing, Hao says, is not just corporate power but imperial power. They are building empires. And as history shows, empires are built on resource extraction, particularly the old-fashioned kind: of labor, energy, minerals, land, water.

Seemingly overnight, tech elites’ feel-good climate promises have evaporated, having been seamlessly swapped for slippery promises that so-called “artificial general intelligence” will save the planet for us. Never mind that AGI is a fantastical concept that has no agreed-upon definition, or that, more fundamentally, it appears nowhere close to existing. In Big Tech’s frenzied pursuit of the “hyperscale” AI dominance that evangelists claim will unlock AGI, as well as its expanding alliances with fossil fuel-backed petrostates and authoritarian political movements, the industry has become an increasingly central contributor to the climate crisis.

In an October conversation with Drilled, Hao discussed how Silicon Valley giants appear to be following the oil and gas industry’s playbook of disinformation and deceit; how Altman and OpenAI’s secrecy and disingenuous rhetoric transformed the field of AI research into corporate PR; and why the destructive trajectory of AI scale and commercialization is not inevitable—no matter what its power-hungry proponents would have you believe.

What is &ldquo;artificial intelligence&rdquo;? Is it a fancy technology? A management consulting buzzword? A PR effort to inflate corporate share prices? A political project designed to shape the world more to the liking of the billionaire class? A way to replace needy human workers with machines?
Perhaps it&rsquo;s all of that&mdash;and more. In her groundbreaking book<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/743569/empire-of-ai-by-karen-hao/"> Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman&rsquo;s OpenAI</a>, award-winning journalist Karen Hao argues that AI&mdash;and the profit-driven infrastructure that surrounds it&mdash;is a colonial project. What OpenAI boss Altman and his fellow<a href="https://drilled.media/news/network-state"> ideologues</a> in Silicon Valley are pursuing, Hao says, is not just corporate power but imperial power. They are building empires. And as history shows, empires are built on resource extraction, particularly the old-fashioned kind: of labor, energy, minerals, land, water.
Seemingly overnight, tech elites&rsquo; feel-good climate promises have<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/climate/tech-companies-climate-goals.html"> evaporated</a>, having been seamlessly swapped for slippery promises that so-called &ldquo;artificial general intelligence&rdquo; will save the planet for us. Never mind that<a href="https://prospect.org/2025/12/09/artifice-age-of-artificial-intelligence-silverman-morris-review/"> AGI is a fantastical concept that has no agreed-upon definition</a>, or that, more fundamentally, it appears nowhere close to existing. In Big Tech&rsquo;s frenzied pursuit of the &ldquo;hyperscale&rdquo; AI dominance that evangelists claim will unlock AGI, as well as its<a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/microsoft-nvidia-uae-ai-chips-cf8491b6"> expanding</a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/saudi-arabia-ai-exporter.html"> alliances</a> with fossil fuel-backed petrostates and authoritarian political movements, the industry has become an increasingly<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/29/gas-power-ai-climate"> central</a><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/reining-in-big-tech-policy-solutions-to-address-the-data-center-buildout/"> contributor</a> to the climate crisis.
In an October conversation with Drilled, Hao discussed how Silicon Valley giants appear to be following the oil and gas industry&rsquo;s playbook of disinformation and deceit; how Altman and OpenAI&rsquo;s secrecy and disingenuous rhetoric transformed the field of AI research into corporate PR; and why the destructive trajectory of AI scale and commercialization is not inevitable&mdash;no matter what its power-hungry proponents would have you believe.

Drilled is a true-crime climate change podcast exposing how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Hosted and reported by award-winning investigative climate journalists and led by Amy Westervelt, each season unravels new evidence of deception, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach.

Season 15 coming April 2026.

Drilled is a true-crime climate change podcast exposing how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Hosted and reported by award-winning investigative climate journalists and led by Amy Westervelt, each season unravels new evidence of deception, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach.
Season 15 coming April 2026.

A true-crime podcast about climate change, hosted and reported by award-winning investigative journalist Amy Westervelt.

Drilled

Drilling Deep: Karen Hao on How Big AI Is Gambling with the Planet’s Chips

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/913634fb-c579-425a-b0ee-b4100000d457/transcript