Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa and acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Karen Hao come to the Chan Centre this spring

Empire of AI: Karen Hao in Conversation with Naomi Klein, presented in partnership with the UBC Centre for Climate Justice with support from the Phil Lind Initiative, will take place on March 12. Named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in AI, Silicon Valley engineer-turned-journalist Karen Hao takes the stage to discuss her bestselling book Empire of AI. Drawing from years of rare insider access to OpenAI and reporting across five continents, Hao offers a gripping look at how the accelerating AI revolution is reshaping society and concentrating economic and political power in the hands of a few companies. The book was recently named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2025 by The New York Times. A former foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and current contributor to The Atlantic, Hao has been awarded an American Humanist Media Award and an American National Magazine Award in 2022 for “outstanding achievement for magazine journalists under the age of 30.”

Hao will be joined in conversation by award-winning author, activist, and UBC professor Naomi Klein, whose own work critically examines the intersections of technology, capitalism, and climate. Together, they will explore how individuals and institutions can meaningfully shape a more equitable technological future.

“The oligarchs behind the AI bubble would like us to believe that their tech is magic, on the verge of solving every one of humanity’s most intractable crises. But as Karen Hao shows in her game-changing, deeply reported book, it is exploited labour and an exploited planet that makes generative AI possible. More than anything, this vampiric technology is extending a lifeline to fossil fuels when we can least afford to do so. It’s high time for this urgent conversation.”

Naomi Klein

On April 2, the Chan Centre welcomes Maria Ressa for An Evening with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa, generously sponsored by the Peña Family Foundation. Maria Ressa is co-founder of Rappler, the Philippines’ digital-only news site dedicated to a free press. Under the Duterte government, Ressa and Rappler were relentlessly targeted with political intimidation, online harassment, and state-driven disinformation campaigns. Faced with 11 arrest warrants in just over a year, Ressa has become one of the world’s most powerful advocates for press freedom and the integrity of our information ecosystems.

Her latest book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator—described by the Financial Times as a “highly personal, powerful and important book”—offers a sweeping account of the global fight for democracy in the digital age. Ressa’s work continues to influence international policy, journalism, and conversations about digital governance and she has been deservedly been named one of TIME’s Most Influential People, as well as one of its Women of the Century. In 2022, she was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to the Leadership Panel of the Internet Governance Forum as its Vice-Chair. She is currently a Professor of Practice at Columbia University where she leads projects related to AI and democracy within the Institute of Global Politics.

Adrienne Arsenault, Emmy Award-winning CBC News chief correspondent and host of The National, moderates this incisive conversation with Ressa on the breakdown of our global information ecosystem and how interconnected communities of action can hold the line to protect democratic values.

Together, these two Chan Centre Insights events bring leading global voices to Vancouver for urgent, thought-provoking discussions on the future of truth, technology, and democratic resilience. Tickets go on-sale to the general public on Friday, November 28 at 10AM.