Karen Hao

Karen Hao
Hao giving a talk at Politics and Prose in 2025
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (BS)
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • engineer
Notable credit(s)The Atlantic (2023–2024)
The Wall Street Journal (2022–2023)
MIT Technology Review (2018–2022)
Quartz (2017–2018)
AwardsHelen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism (2026)
Websitekarendhao.com Edit this at Wikidata
Karen Hao
Simplified Chinese郝珂灵[1]
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHǎo Kēlíng

Karen Hao (born c. 1993) is an American journalist and author. Currently a freelancer for publications like The Atlantic and previously a foreign correspondent based in Hong Kong for The Wall Street Journal and senior artificial intelligence editor at the MIT Technology Review, she is best known for her coverage on AI research, technology ethics and the social impact of AI.[2][3] Hao also co-produced the podcast In Machines We Trust and wrote the newsletter The Algorithm.[4]

Previously, she worked at Quartz as a tech reporter and data scientist and was an application engineer at the first startup to spin out of X Development. Hao's writing has also appeared in Mother Jones, Sierra Magazine, The New Republic, and other publications.

Early life and education

Born in the United States, Hao is the daughter of Chinese immigrant parents, and grew up in New Jersey.[5] She is a native speaker of both English and Mandarin Chinese.[2] She graduated from The Lawrenceville School in 2011.[6] She then studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a minor in energy studies in 2015.[7]

Career

Hao is known in the technology world for her coverage of new AI research findings and their societal and ethical impacts. Her writing has spanned research and issues regarding big tech data privacy, misinformation, deepfakes, facial recognition, and AI healthcare tools.

In March 2021, Hao published a piece that uncovered previously unknown information about how attempts to combat misinformation by different teams at Facebook using machine learning were impeded and constantly at odds with Facebook's drive to grow user engagement.[8][9][10] Upon its release, leaders at Facebook including Mike Schroepfer and Yann LeCun immediately criticized the piece through Twitter responses.[11] AI researchers and AI ethics experts Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell responded in support of Hao's writing and advocated for more change and improvement for all.[12]

Hao also co-produced the podcast In Machines We Trust, which discusses the rise of AI with people developing, researching, and using AI technologies.[13] The podcast won the 2020 Front Page Award in investigative reporting.[14]

Hao has occasionally created data visualizations that have been featured in her work at the MIT Technology Review and elsewhere. In 2018, her "What is AI?" flowchart visualization was exhibited as an installation at the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna.[15]

She has been an invited speaker at TEDxGateway, the United Nations Foundation, EmTech, WNPR, and many other conferences and podcasts.[16][17] Her TEDx talk discussed the importance of democratizing how AI is built.[18]

In March 2022, she was hired by The Wall Street Journal to cover China technology and society, while being based in Hong Kong.[19] She left the WSJ in 2023.

In May 2025, Hao released the book Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI.[20][21][22] The book became a New York Times Bestseller and was named a Book of the Year by the Financial Times.[23] In December 2025, after criticism from readers, Hao issued a correction to her book where she had previously overestimated the water consumption of a data center in Chile compared to the community's water consumption by factor of 1,000, due to an error in a government document.[24] In April 2026 the book won the New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism.[25]

Selected awards and honors

  • 2019 Webby Award nominee for best newsletter, as a writer of The Algorithm[4]
  • 2021 Front Page Award in investigative reporting, as a co-producer for In Machines We Trust[14]
  • 2021 Ambies Award nominee for best knowledge and science podcast, as a co-producer for In Machines We Trust[26]
  • 2021 Webby Award nominee for best technology podcast, as a co-producer for In Machines We Trust[27]
  • 2024 American Humanist Media Award[28]
  • 2025 TIME100 AI, named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence[29]
  • 2026 New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism[25]
  • 2026 Whiting Award in Non-fiction[30]

References

  1. ↑ "Karen Hao in Twitter". Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Karen Hao". Educational Technology. January 14, 2020. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  3. ↑ Hao, Karen. "Karen Hao". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  4. 1 2 "The Algorithm | The Webby Awards". The Webby Awards. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  5. ↑ Humanist, The (December 4, 2024). "AI is Already Everywhere".
  6. ↑ "2018 Report of Giving - The Lawrenceville School". Issuu. November 26, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Karen Hao". MIT Club of Northern California. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  8. ↑ "He got Facebook hooked on AI. Now he can't fix its misinformation addiction". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  9. ↑ "AI Weekly: Facebook, Google, and the tension between profits and fairness". VentureBeat. March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  10. ↑ Vincent, James (March 11, 2021). "Go read this story on how Facebook's focus on growth stopped its AI team from fighting misinformation". The Verge. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  11. ↑ Greene, Tristan (March 12, 2021). "Facebook AI boss Yann LeCun goes off in Twitter rant, blames talk radio for hate content". Neural | The Next Web. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  12. ↑ Zakrzewski, Cat. "Analysis | The Technology 202: Walter Isaacson says new discoveries will come from people who appreciate 'microchips and molecules'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  13. ↑ "MIT Technology Review premieres "In Machines We Trust" podcast" (Press release). Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  14. 1 2 "2020 Front Page Awards". THE NEWSWOMEN'S CLUB OF NEW YORK. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  15. ↑ "UNCANNY VALUES — Artificial Intelligence & You". Uncanny Values. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Karen Hao". TEDxGateway - India's Largest Ideas Platform (Mumbai, India). Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  17. ↑ Session 6: Value versus Values: Balancing the Benefits of Big Data for Gender, November 18, 2019, retrieved March 22, 2021
  18. ↑ Why We Need To Democratise How We Build AI | Karen Hao | TEDxGateway, June 9, 2020, retrieved March 22, 2021
  19. ↑ Hao, Karen [@_KarenHao] (March 31, 2022). "Hello!! Today is my first day at the Wall Street Journal. I'll be covering China tech & society and moving to Hong Kong in May. So excited to work with such talented colleagues. 😍" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ↑ Mauran, Cecily (May 19, 2025). "'Empire of AI' author on OpenAI's cult of AGI and why Sam Altman tried to discredit her book". Mashable. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  21. ↑ Inskeep, Steve (May 20, 2025). "Journalist Karen Hao discusses her book 'Empire of AI'". NPR. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  22. ↑ ""Empire of AI": Karen Hao on How AI Is Threatening Democracy & Creating a New Colonial World". Democracy Now!. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  23. ↑ "Empire of AI by Karen Hao". FT Business book of the year award. Retrieved April 1, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Empire of AI - Water Footprint Changes". Karen Hao. Retrieved April 8, 2026.
  25. 1 2 "NYPL's Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism". New York Public Library. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  26. ↑ "2021 NOMINEES". The Ambies — Awards for Excellence in Audio. Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  27. ↑ "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  28. ↑ Thompson, Meredith (August 22, 2024). "Meet the 2024 Humanist Awardees". TheHumanist.com. Retrieved April 2, 2026.
  29. ↑ "TIME100 AI". time.com. Retrieved January 4, 2026.
  30. ↑ "Winners of the 2026 Whiting Award Revealed". kirkusreviews.com. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
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