Pulitzer-winning investigative journo @newyorker. Documentaries @hbo. Ex-diplomat. Bad lawyer. Disused PhD. Tips: ronan_farrow@newyorker.com.
Joined July 2011
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Apr 6
The reporting on OpenAI and Sam Altman that I've been working on for the past year and a half, for @NewYorker, with @andrewmarantz: newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
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Will be—announcement on timing still coming, so stay tuned.
Jun 13
Are these on HBOMax?
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Ronan Farrow retweeted
Jun 11
Ronan Farrow Plays Investigator and the Investigated in Two New HBO Series hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-…
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Jun 9
Join me tomorrow @tribeca for a preview of my next two @HBO investigative series—The Palladino Files and Not a Very Good Murderer, stories that have taken over my life, back-to-back. I’ll be there for Q&A after with @Randybarbato and @fbailey. Tix here: tribecafilm.com/films/not-a-…
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May 26
What happens when you let AI models run a simulated society?
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May 8
This week, in Elon Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, the jury saw video of a sworn deposition from Mira Murati, OpenAI's former CTO. Elaborating on her comments in our latest @NewYorker story, she alleged that Altman was not always truthful, gave different executives conflicting information, and pitted them against each other. Texts between Murati and Altman were also entered as evidence.
Over the course of an 18-month investigation, we traced the yearslong history of these claims from Altman's colleagues, and looked at what this tells us about integrity in AI leadership, and how it affects all of us.
Here's some of what we found. And read the full story here: newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
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May 1
Yesterday, a federal judge barred Elon Musk's lawyers from arguing that AI could threaten humanity in his lawsuit against OpenAI.
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit focused on developing AI safely. But our recent @NewYorker investigation documented how some researchers at the company have raised concerns about safety being sidelined.
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Ronan Farrow retweeted
Apr 28
(🧵1/10) With renewed attention on my recent @NewYorker reporting about Sam Altman and OpenAI, it's worth revisiting a piece I wrote for the magazine about another tech billionaire who has accumulated unusual leverage over the US government—and whose hand many readers have lately seen at work in their feeds.
For that story, I spent months interviewing more than thirty of Elon Musk's current and former colleagues, along with current and former officials at NASA, the Department of Defense, the FAA, the Department of Transportation, and OSHA. Many of their observations have only grown more relevant since.
Read the full investigation here: newyorker.com/magazine/2023/…
And a thread on a few of its findings below.
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Apr 28
(🧵1/10) With renewed attention on my recent @NewYorker reporting about Sam Altman and OpenAI, it's worth revisiting a piece I wrote for the magazine about another tech billionaire who has accumulated unusual leverage over the US government—and whose hand many readers have lately seen at work in their feeds.
For that story, I spent months interviewing more than thirty of Elon Musk's current and former colleagues, along with current and former officials at NASA, the Department of Defense, the FAA, the Department of Transportation, and OSHA. Many of their observations have only grown more relevant since.
Read the full investigation here: newyorker.com/magazine/2023/…
And a thread on a few of its findings below.
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Apr 28
(9/10) Sam Altman, in an interview for that 2023 piece, told me: "Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it."
In an open letter calling for a pause on advanced A.I. development, Musk and dozens of fellow tech leaders posed the question themselves: "Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders."
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Apr 28
(10/10) Musk still controls everything the original piece described. He has since won shareholder approval for a pay package that could make him the world's first trillionaire; become the largest political donor in modern American history; spent months running a federal agency; and embedded his AI chatbot across federal agencies, including the Pentagon's classified networks.
When national security officials and other experts raise warnings about the dangers presented by the current generation of Silicon Valley tycoons, the point isn't just individual, it's structural. In some cases, political and economic structures can no longer meaningfully contain them.
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Ronan Farrow retweeted
🎬 Join us at Tribeca for a sneak peek of Not a Very Good Murderer and The Palladino Files, TWO new HBO docuseries from Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato Pulitzer-winning journalist Ronan Farrow
🎟️ tribecafilm.com/festival/tic…
@tribeca @randybarbato @fbailey @ronanfarrow @hbodocs @hbo
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Apr 21
When Sam Altman was reinstated at OpenAI after an outside law firm investigation, no report about what was found was ever released. That’s because none was written.
More in my full @NewYorker investigation: newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
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Apr 15
(🧵1/11) When OpenAI board members hired the law firm WilmerHale to investigate Sam Altman's firing over two years ago, many executives at the company expected to see extensive findings. Instead, OpenAI released a brief announcement with few details. One new disclosure in our @NewYorker investigation: there was no written report, and findings were kept deliberately out of writing.
Full story here: newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
And a thread below.
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Apr 15
(10/11) An "oral-only" report can actually create legal exposure. The absence of a written report can make it harder for directors to demonstrate they met their fiduciary duties. If OpenAI IPOs, shareholders could invoke corporate law in Delaware, where OpenAI is incorporated, to demand underlying records.
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Apr 15
(11/11) Some board members told us that ongoing questions about the integrity of the report could prompt, as one put it, "a need for another investigation."
Much more in the full story, which you can read here: newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
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