The Optimist

“The Optimist serves to remind us that however unprecedented the consequences of AI models might be, the story of their development is a profoundly human one.” – James Ball - The Guardian“Compelling…” – Ben Wallace-Wells - The New Yorker“Hagey’s book, written with Altman’s cooperation [is] critical, but no hagiography. “The Optimist” lets the reader see how thoroughly Altman outfoxed his patron, leveraging Musk’s paranoia into enormous sums of money while slowly making OpenAI his own … [An] excellent and deeply reported book.” – Tim Wu - The New York Times Book Review”[An] excellent new book… [Altman’s] personality is vivid and complicated enough that her story never flags. It is no hagiography.” – The Economist“A brisk, compelling account of Sam Altman’s rise… If you want to understand the forces behind Altman and OpenAI, this is the book to read.” – Shakeel Hashim - Transformer“Timely and myth-busting” – Richard Waters - Financial Times

Keach Hagey is a reporter at the Wall Street Journal. The author of The King of Content: Sumner Redstone’s Battle for Viacom, CBS, and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire, she lives in Irvington, NY.