Historian Jill Lepore: Silicon Valley is Replacing Democracy With an 'Artificial State'

Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore warns that the tech industry is systematically undermining democratic governance in favor of a rule governed by machines. Speaking on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Lepore argues that this shift represents a dangerous transition from accountable public institutions to an opaque "Artificial State."

Lepore, a 2026 Pulitzer Prize winner for her history of the U.S. Constitution, discussed these themes in relation to her upcoming book, "The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State." During the podcast, she asserted that many leaders in Silicon Valley are "bad readers" of science fiction. According to Lepore, these executives often mistake cautionary tales for blueprints, attempting to build the very dystopias that authors originally intended to warn against. She specifically cited Elon Musk as an example of a "bad science fiction reader" regarding how he interprets and applies speculative concepts to real-world technology.

The Cultural Failure of Governance

Lepore positions the current trajectory of the tech industry not as a natural scientific evolution, but as a profound cultural failure. She suggests that the architects of this new era lack a coherent theory of governance or a genuine interest in the rule of law. Instead of building systems that enhance civic participation, Lepore argues that the industry is relying on misinterpreted fiction to guide the integration of AI into public infrastructure.

This lack of historical and political grounding leads to what Lepore describes as a return to "tyranny and mystification in the form of rule by algorithms, corporations, machines." By removing the human element of deliberation and law from the equation, the tech industry risks creating a system where power is exercised without transparency or public consent.

The Erosion of Individual Agency

The implications of this shift extend beyond the halls of government to the very nature of human existence. Lepore describes the "Artificial State" as the "factory farming of humans," characterized by the sorting, segmenting, isolation, and alienation of individuals. She warns that under this regime, humans are becoming to machines what animals had become to humans: data points to be managed rather than citizens with agency.

If tech corporations successfully replace state functions with algorithmic control, the result could be a permanent erosion of the rule of law. In this scenario, the transparent processes of democracy are replaced by opaque code, effectively stripping individuals of their ability to challenge the decisions that govern their lives.

Watching the Artificial State

As AI continues to be integrated into the bedrock of public governance, Lepore's critique highlights a growing tension between technological capability and democratic stability. The central question remains whether the tech industry can be steered back toward a framework of accountability, or if the "Artificial State" will continue to expand. For now, Lepore suggests that the industry's inability to read its own inspirations correctly is a primary driver of this democratic decay.