AI and Urban Inequality? In Karen Hao’s award-winning "Empire of AI", 250 interviews reveal how tech giants gaslight the public by bankrolling researchers to silence critique. Hao exposes the exploitation of Kenyan laborers like Mophat Okinyi, who was paid pennies to filter 15,000 violent images monthly for ChatGPT. Despite Sam Altman’s dismissal, the book proves that true auditing requires looking at those paid the least, not the industry’s funded elite. The deeper issue is not just AI ethics, but AI-driven urban inequality. As AI wealth concentrates in a few global tech hubs, low-paid digital laborers in developing cities absorb the psychological and economic costs. The future of AI cities may ultimately be defined not by intelligence, but by how fairly AI-generated wealth is distributed. CityAI is exploring how AI and blockchain can help reduce these inequalities and expand access to value creation.