Jill Lepore warns tech firms are taking on roles of government

In short: Historian Jill Lepore says big tech companies are slowly taking over jobs that governments normally do, and that this can weaken democracy.

What's going on

Jill Lepore, a Harvard historian and writer for The New Yorker, made the case on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast while discussing her upcoming book, “The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State.” She says tech companies are increasingly performing functions that used to belong to democratic governments.

Lepore calls this shift the “artificial state.” By that, she means a world where important public decisions are shaped by private companies and “algorithms” (step by step computer rules, like a recipe a machine follows). She argues this change has happened gradually, often starting with attempts to make services faster, cheaper, or easier.

She pointed to examples that, in her view, show tech firms copying the symbols and processes of government. She mentioned Meta’s Oversight Board, which some people compare to a “Supreme Court” for content decisions. She also noted that Anthropic hired a moral philosopher to write a “constitution” to guide its AI system, and that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has talked publicly about the idea of an “AI president.”

Lepore also said some Silicon Valley leaders treat science fiction like an instruction manual, rather than as a warning story. She singled out Elon Musk as someone she believes reads these stories in a way that misses their message.

What to watch

Lepore says a key issue is consent and accountability, meaning people did not vote for tech firms to take on these roles. Watch for more public pushback, especially in local fights over data centers (large buildings full of computers, like warehouses for online services) and in future policy debates about how much power private tech companies should have.

Source: TechCrunch AI