Why would the CEO of one of the world’s most advanced AI companies model parts of its office space with library elements?
In her book Empire of AI, journalist Karen Hao examines how OpenAI evolved from its founding as a safety-focused non-profit into a commercially-driven corporation competing in the race for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
The author provides a detailed account of OpenAI and its employees’ relentless pursuit of AGI. Against this backdrop, Hao’s description of her first visit to OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco is particularly striking:
Past the security desk, the foyer unfurled into an open lounge area. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, bathing exposed wood beam ceilings and inviting couches. To the right, a cafeteria catered meals for employees; board games and books teetered on shelves along the walls. […]
Hao, K. (2025). Empire of AI: Dreams and nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Penguin Press, pp. 73 f.
[Sam Altman] would add a library to Mayo1 with wooden shelves and a Persian carpet, modeled after a cross between his favorite Parisian bookstore and a study space in the largest library of his alma mater, Stanford University.
The author explains that Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, personally planned the design of these spaces. His employees work on the most advanced digital technology humanity has ever developed. — Why, then, is it so important to him to create a workspace that evokes the atmosphere of a library?
Are libraries still important physical spaces in the digital age, where scientists or AI developers find ideal working conditions? Creative spaces with the right atmosphere for concentrated work, but also for intellectual exchange?
What are your thoughts on this topic? Please leave them in the comments below.
- Since OpenAI’s second office building in San Francisco was a former mayonnaise factory, they nicknamed it “Mayo.” (Hao, 2025, p. 74) ↩︎
IMAGE: AI-generated
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