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<p id="speakable-summary" class="has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph">Historian Jill Lepore has a theory about why tech companies often use soaring language to describe their products — almost as if they’re forming a new government. And whether you’re thinking of Twitter’s old “town hall in your pocket” or <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/constitution" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Anthropic’s Claude constitution</a>, it’s a theory that doesn’t paint Silicon Valley in a very flattering light. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In Lepore’s upcoming book, <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324098423" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"><em>The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State</em></a>, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard historian and New Yorker writer argues that tech companies are gradually taking on the functions of democratic government — whether that’s Twitter giving a distorted picture of the electorate or Facebook displacing local news. In her view, these leaders often mistake technological advancement for political progress, all while <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/02/malaysia-is-reportedly-shutting-down-balaji-srinivasans-network-school/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">outright declaring their intention to replace the nation-state</a>. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">On this episode of TechCrunch’s<a href="https://techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Equity</a> podcast, Anthony Ha talks with Lepore about her book and why she thinks today’s AI leaders — who promise a future where AI makes government more efficient, more responsive, and maybe even unnecessary — are selling an old fantasy in new packaging. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Listen to the full episode to hear more about: </p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li class="wp-block-list-item">Why Lepore sees a straight line from the classic 1984 Macintosh ad to Anthropic’s AI constitution and Sam Altman’s comments about an “AI president” </li>
</ul>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li class="wp-block-list-item">How E.M. Forster’s 1909 sci-fi story “The Machine Stops” provides a blueprint for the artificial state, and why Lepore says it now reads like “the diary of a very unhappy YouTuber” </li>
</ul>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li class="wp-block-list-item">Why Lepore believes the artificial state is ultimately unsustainable, and what she thinks it would take to rein it in </li>
</ul>
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