Author Karen Hao Warns AI’s Real Crisis Is Data, Jobs And Unchecked Power

Artificial

intelligence is no longer just an image generation tool. Recently, several incidents have shown how AI can hack systems including OpenAI's GPT-5.6 exploiting the Hugging Face systems on its own. Amid the AI fear, author Karen Hao believes that there is a bigger story that deserves attention. In an interview with Bloomberg, Hao argued that the industry's real challenges go far beyond technical risks. According to her, issues such as data collection, job losses, worker exploitation and growing corporate power should be at the center of the AI debate.

AI Companies Are Becoming "Modern Empires"

Hao, author of the book Empire of AI, reportedly compared today's biggest AI companies to historical empires that grew by taking control of valuable resources."These companies have consolidated a historic amount of economic and political power. They are becoming the supreme powers in the world, just like the empires of old," she said.According to Bloomberg, she highlighted that AI companies rely on resources that do not belong to them, including people's personal data and the intellectual property of artists, writers and creators. She also reportedly claimed that they benefit from both low-paid AI workers and jobs lost due to automation.Hao said many people who help build AI systems are highly educated professionals working under poor conditions."Data work is now the fourth-fastest growing work in the US. The people doing this work are scientists, lawyers [and] Ph.D. graduates. They are providing their knowledge and expertise to the training of these models, but under deeply exploitative, poorly paid conditions," she said.According to Hao, AI is also changing the job market by replacing stable employment with gig work.Hao stated, "So it's not just giving work to people who don't have work; it's degrading the work opportunities that exist right now, taking knowledge workers out of full-time employment into gig-work.".Hao stressed that she is not against AI itself. Instead, she believes companies should build AI more responsibly, just as other industries have been pushed to improve labor and environmental practices."Other industries have had similar problems. The fashion industry also engaged in a lot of labor exploitation and a lot of environmental degradation. The answer was never, Let's just get rid of clothes altogether. The answer was always, Let's hold ourselves to higher standards in producing clothes without those problems," she added.As AI tools become increasingly common in workplaces, schools and homes, Hao has taken an unusual personal approach. When asked whether she uses ChatGPT or Claude, her answer was simple, "Neither." She believes that not using AI liberates her.