OpenAI

Companiesartificial-intelligence

AI research lab turned product company whose nonprofit-to-capped-profit conversion and 2023 board crisis made it the subject of a fast-growing literature.

8 books

Start here

  1. Genius MakersCade Metz, 2021
  2. Empire of AIKaren Hao, 2025
  3. The Alignment ProblemBrian Christian, 2020

Books 8

Superintelligence
T1 Superintelligence
Nick Bostrom · 2014 · The argument that motivated OpenAI's founding mission.
Open Library
Brad FeldBrett AdcockDavid KadavyElon MuskJake KnappMarc GoodmanNaval RavikantSam Altman
The Alignment Problem
T2 The Alignment Problem
Brian Christian · 2020 · The technical safety agenda OpenAI claims to serve.
Open Library
Sam Altman
Genius Makers
T2 Genius Makers
Cade Metz · 2021 · Deep-learning history including OpenAI's founding and talent wars.
Open Library
The Coming Wave
T2 The Coming Wave
Mustafa Suleyman, Michael Bhaskar · 2023 · DeepMind co-founder on containment; the rival lab's view.
Open Library
Andrew WilkinsonBill Gates
Empire of AI
T2 Empire of AI
Karen Hao · 2025 · Critical history of OpenAI's mission drift and resource extraction.
Open Library
Optimist
T2 Optimist
Keach Hagey · 2025 · Sam Altman biography covering the November 2023 firing and return.
Open Library
Andrew Wilkinson
Supremacy
T3 Supremacy
Parmy Olson · 2024 · OpenAI versus DeepMind; winner of the FT Business Book of the Year.
Open Library
Andrew Wilkinson
The AI Does Not Hate You
T4 The AI Does Not Hate You
Tom Chivers · 2019 · The rationalist milieu behind OpenAI's founders and its board fight.
Open Library