Dr. Jill Lepore on why AI backlash is vital for the future

The Verge · 19 hours ago

Harvard historian Jill Lepore argues in her new book that AI and quantification systems have gradually replaced meaningful civic engagement with automated decision-making, creating what she calls the 'artificial state' where private corporations and bots dominate public discourse instead of democratic deliberation. The acceleration spans from 1930s political polling through 1980s microtargeting to today's AI-driven campaigns, where citizens increasingly outsource voting decisions to chatbots while campaign messages are generated and targeted by AI. Lepore sees hope in public backlash—like college students booing tech CEOs—as necessary pressure to choose a different future rather than sleepwalking into the dystopian model Silicon Valley billionaires seem to be building.