I'm reading Empire of AI in my tech unemployment era (lol) and I was aware of AI tech bit by bit while employed through articles and such but learning the history and underpinnings of OpenAI is something else. I used various models on OpenCode and Windsurf so I feeeeeel the soviet Russia explanation you are writing about. I even went on LinkedIn, while still employed, and wrote an article about how I was using AI in my work in 2025 (as u also mentioned) which felt weird but whatever I did the thing I thought managers wanted to see.

Reading thru Empire of AI has this incredible grounding effect for me as an ex tech worker who was surrounded by the AGI hype bc like.... it's just.... data annotation by people in other countries? Everything from the stolen data to human workers filling in the blanks for the machine, where is the "intelligence" part is supposed to come in? What is this "sentience" we are speaking of? The unchecked media power and psychological terror of these CEOs, for me, is the worst part because I see how it disempowers the people in my life and narrows our visions on what the future can be like. It's doing that narrowing not really based on knowledge and practice but "AGI is coming" marketing.