NPR's Book of the Day Folgen

OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit meant to conduct artificial intelligence research that would benefit the general public. In the company's early days, reporter Karen Hao arranged to spend time in OpenAI's offices and noticed the culture there was incredibly secretive. That secrecy raised questions for Hao that ultimately resulted in her new book, Empire of AI. The book is an intimate look at the company behind ChatGPT, but also at the industry-wide race to control AI. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about early disagreements between founders Sam Altman and Elon Musk, Altman's talents for fundraising and storytelling, and how the AI race is reproducing elements of colonial empire.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ocean Vuong's debut novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous placed him in an elite club of American writers. He teaches at NYU and is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, among many other honors. But before all this, the author was raised by working-class Vietnamese immigrant parents in Hartford, Connecticut. Vuong's new novel The Emperor of Gladness takes place in a similar environment and centers on an unlikely friendship between a 19 year-old college dropout named Hai and an 82-year-old with dementia named Grazina. In today's episode, Vuong joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation about reframing our view of the United States and the American dream, describing ugly things in a beautiful way, and Vuong's experience working in close quarters at a fast food restaurant.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Multilevel marketing – or MLM – first became popular in the period that followed World War II. Since then, millions have tried their luck as salespeople for companies like Amway, Mary Kay, Cutco and Herbalife. MLMs offer themselves as low-cost paths to entrepreneurship, but very few of their participants are able to earn a living wage. A new book Little Bosses Everywhere by Bridget Read traces the history and culture of the MLM industry. In today's episode, Read speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about why this business model flourishes in economic uncertainty, the unregulated nature of the industry, and the blurred lines between MLMs and pyramid schemes.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy