Webinar ‘Empire of AI – The reckless race for artificial intelligence & how things could be different’ – Tue, 13 January 2026, 8:00–9:30 p.m. CET
Dear friends!
AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini and others are now used regularly by billions of users worldwide. In just a few years, whether in our private or professional lives, AI has become part of everyday life within just a few years.
But with daily use, it is also becoming increasingly clear what price we are all really paying for quick queries to chatbots: From the incredible energy hunger of ever-larger data centres powered by dirty gas or coal-fired power or crumbling nuclear power plants, to the dangerous flooding of digital space with AI-generated disinformation, to the disregard for copyright and exploitation of so-called ‘ghost workers’ in the Global South:
The few AI companies are building their profits on destruction, paired directly with a story of redemption: if we just put enough resources into AI now, then godlike ‘artificial general intelligence’ (AGI) will come along and superhumanly solve climate change, disease and injustice, which it itself has helped to fuel, all controlled, of course, by the same AI companies.
Because all this is very reminiscent of the empires of the past and present, journalist and author Karen Hao has named her new and highly acclaimed book “Empire of AI”. Over the years, she has followed the path of ChatGPT developer OpenAI and its founder Sam Altman and written a sharp analysis of this AI empire. Karen Hao’s work is not a crude demonisation of AI, but an intelligent critique, with sentences like these:
‘AI is not the problem, but the specific way it is being implemented in Silicon Valley.’
In this joint webinar with Europe Calling, Karen Hao will present her book ‘Empire of AI’ and then discuss with two guests the question of whether Europe can implement AI in a different way that is not based on the exploitation of the climate, the environment and society.
Dr Michael Förtsch is the founder and managing director of Q.ANT, a deep-tech start-up from Stuttgart/Germany that develops particularly energy-efficient hardware for AI in order to curb the energy hunger of AI models.
Alexandra Geese is a Member of the European Parliament in the Greens/EFA group and one of the leading policymakers in the field of digital policy in Europe. She is also one of the most important opponents of the tech bros and a fighter for European sovereignty from cloud to AI. Alexandra is a founding board member of Europe Calling and co-organiser of the webinar.
Date: Tuesday, 13 January 2026, 8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. CET
Register here: LINK
With interpretation in German and English.
Join us and invite others!
With European regards,
Alexandra Geese MEP & Maximilian Fries at Europe Calling e.V.