24 April, 6.00 pm
Free admission, lecture translated into Polish
When technology journalist Karen Hao stepped through the doors of OpenAI’s headquarters in 2019, she was convinced she was entering a world of ‘good guys’ – people who, in the name of the public good, were building a non-profit organisation aimed at making artificial intelligence safer for everyone. Sam Altman spoke of ethics, responsibility and the need to rein in the forces of the free market. It sounded like a manifesto for a new era. Unfortunately, the reality turned out to be quite different.
It took just a few meetings and conversations with company staff for the ideal vision presented by Altman to begin to crack. When Hao’s first critical article appeared in *MIT Technology Review*, the doors to the burgeoning empire slammed shut in her face, but her journalistic investigation gained momentum. In her writings, the author reveals the hidden story behind ChatGPT’s success – the invisible labour of thousands of low-paid workers from the Global South, the insatiable hunger for computing power, data centres devouring the environment, and gigantic datasets collected without a second thought for the costs.
During the meeting, Karen Hao will discuss the themes she explored in her book *The Empire of Artificial Intelligence: Dreams and Nightmares at Sam Altman’s OpenAI*. Karen Hao – a journalist who covers the impact of artificial intelligence on society. She is known for her critical reporting on Sam Altman’s company OpenAI, where ChatGPT was developed. Her book *The AI Empire* became a bestseller and caused a stir not only in Silicon Valley but around the world. She writes for publications including *The Atlantic*. Previously, she was senior editor for artificial intelligence at *MIT Technology Review* and a reporter for *The Wall Street Journal*. Sylwia Czubkowska – a journalist and expert in digitalisation and new technologies, a graduate in political science from the University of Warsaw. She has worked for leading economic and technology publications, such as ‘Przekrój’, ‘Dziennik Gazeta Prawna’, ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ and ‘Magazyn Spider’s Web+’. Author of the book ‘Bóg techy’ and host of the Techstorie podcast on Radio TOK FM.
The participants in the meeting
