In a one-hour special that will air on ABC Sept. 12, Oprah Winfrey plans to take on the sprawling topic of artificial intelligence. Her new program, AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special will include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and technology reviewer Marques Brownlee.
In a video promoting the show, Winfrey says, "AI: it may fascinate you or scare you, or if you're like me, it may do both."
In addition to those working actively in the AI industry or around it, the show also includes FBI director Christopher Wray, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson and the co-founders of the Center for Humane Technology, who will presumably speak more to the risks that AI poses to creators and humans in general.
A week before the show is scheduled to air, some online critics are already taking the program to task for its guest list, which some are saying will tilt the content in favor of promoting AI instead of taking a hard look at its dangers. Among them are artist and activist Karla Ortiz, who posted a thread on X asking Winfrey to rethink the special's contents.
Los Angeles Times tech columnist and Blood in the Machine newsletter writer Brian Merchant called the special and "extended sales pitch for the generative AI industry at the moment when its fortunes are flaggina nd the AI bubble is threatening to burst" in an X post.
Winfrey also faced criticism back in March when her last special, focused on the weight-loss drug Ozempic, aired on ABC.
In a case of AI imitating life, a video purporting to show Winfrey interviewing Sam Altman for the special actually shows an animated version of Winfrey interviewing herself before cutting to a cartoon figure who looks more (but not very much) like Sam Altman.
The AI special will air at 8 p.m. eastern on Thursday, Sept. 12 and be made available the next day on Hulu.