Karen Hao
ENGINEER → REPORTER → EMPIRE OF AI
THE DEAL
Hao was the first journalist to profile OpenAI, starting in 2019 before ChatGPT made it famous.
SOURCES: Karen HaoAAJA StudioPenguin Random HousePulitzer CenterPulitzer Center
AT A GLANCE
- EDUCATION
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Mechanical engineering · BS · minor in energy studiesKaren Hao
THE ARCHIVE
History · cartoons · headlines
THE TIMELINE6 sourced events
SHE PROFILED OPENAI BEFORE ANYONE KNEW ITS NAME
Hao was the first journalist to profile OpenAI, starting in 2019 before ChatGPT made it famous. Her AI Colonialism series traced the supply chain's labor and power around the world, and Empire of AI turned years of reporting into the book-length history.
2018
THE ENGINEER CROSSES OVER INTO THE AI PRESS
After MIT mechanical engineering, application engineering at a Google[x] spinout, and reporting plus data-science work at Quartz, Hao moved into AI journalism at MIT Technology Review. The technical career became the reporting advantage.
SOURCES: Karen Haofirst-partyAAJA Studioreported
2019
SHE STARTS DIGGING INTO OPENAI BEFORE CHATGPT EXISTS
Hao says she was the first journalist to profile OpenAI. Her reporting on the then much less famous lab began in 2019 and became an early close look at the tension between its founding mission and its growing ambitions.
SOURCES: Karen Haofirst-partyPenguin Random Housereported
2020
THE AI BEAT EXPANDS INTO AUDIO
Pulitzer Center's biography notes that Hao won a Front Page Award in 2020 for co-producing the podcast In Machines We Trust while building a broader body of AI reporting.
SOURCES: Pulitzer Centerreported
Apr 2022
SHE FOLLOWS THE AI SUPPLY CHAIN AROUND THE WORLD
Hao's Pulitzer Center-supported AI Colonialism series traced data collection, labeling labor, surveillance, and algorithmic power across several countries, shifting the AI story from models alone toward the people and resources underneath them.
SOURCES: Pulitzer Centerreported
Apr 10, 2024
SHE STARTS TRAINING OTHER REPORTERS TO COVER THE MACHINE
The Pulitzer Center launched the AI Spotlight Series with Hao as its lead, a global training program designed to teach reporters and editors how to investigate AI systems, companies, money, power, and impact.
SOURCES: Pulitzer Centerreported
May 20, 2025
THE OPENAI REPORTING BECOMES EMPIRE OF AI
Penguin Press published Empire of AI, Hao's book about OpenAI and the wider AI industry, turning years of reporting on the lab's growth, resource demands, labor, and power into a full-length account.
SOURCES: Penguin Random Housereported
MORE CARTOONS1 original cartoons