The Unexpected Link Between Harry Potter Fanfiction and OpenAI
A Strange Intersection of Pop Culture and AI Power Players
Few would expect a Harry Potter fanfiction to intersect with the high-stakes world of artificial intelligence. Yet, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (HPMOR), a 660,000-word fanfic by Eliezer Yudkowsky, shares surprising connections with OpenAI’s recent leadership upheaval.
The Emmett Shear Connection
In an obscure Easter egg spotted by 404 Media, HPMOR briefly mentions a Quidditch player named Emmett Shear—the same Emmett Shear who co-founded Twitch and briefly served as OpenAI’s interim CEO in November 2023. Shear, a fan of Yudkowsky’s work, received this cameo as a birthday gift while following the serialized story.
The Rationalist Movement and AI’s Key Players
HPMOR isn’t just fanfiction—it’s a recruitment tool for the rationalist movement, which emphasizes scientific thinking and problem-solving over emotion or tradition. The story reimagines Harry Potter as a hyper-rational prodigy, quoting physics lectures and dissecting magic through logic.
Yudkowsky, the author, is a longtime AI researcher whose ideas resonate with Silicon Valley’s elite:
- He attended dinners with Peter Thiel, OpenAI co-founder and investor
- His blog, LessWrong, birthed thought experiments like Roko’s Basilisk (referenced by Elon Musk and Grimes)
- His work influences AI safety discussions at OpenAI and beyond
AI Alignment: From Fanfiction to Existential Risk
OpenAI’s mission—to align artificial general intelligence (AGI) with human values—mirrors Yudkowsky’s focus on AI alignment research. While thousands signed a 2023 letter advocating a 6-month AI pause, Yudkowsky argued in TIME that stronger measures were needed:
“If somebody builds a too-powerful AI, under present conditions, I expect that every single member of the human species and all biological life on Earth dies shortly thereafter.”
The OpenAI Leadership Crisis and AI Factions
The November 2023 OpenAI drama highlighted competing AI ideologies:
- Techno-optimists: Growth at all costs
- Effective Accelerationists (e/acc): Growth mandated by thermodynamics
- Safetyists/Decels: Regulated, cautious advancement
- Doomers (Yudkowsky’s camp): AI poses existential risk
Shear’s appointment as interim CEO—a Yudkowsky-inspired figure—fueled speculation about OpenAI’s direction. Meanwhile, tech circles debated these factions using the OpenAI chaos as a backdrop.
Conclusion: When Fiction Meets Reality
From a Harry Potter fanfic to AI’s most powerful boardrooms, these connections reveal how niche internet subcultures can influence global technology. As AI development accelerates, the ideas seeded in works like HPMOR may shape humanity’s most consequential decisions.
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