Historian Jill Lepore argues that technology companies are increasingly taking on roles traditionally associated with democratic governments, a development she examines in her upcoming book, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State. Lepore told TechCrunch that her concern is not with technology itself, but with private corporations assuming functions of the state without public consent. Her new book traces the idea of government by machines and examines how technological systems and private companies have become increasingly involved in functions once associated with public institutions. Lepore argued that some technology entrepreneurs have explicitly discussed moving beyond traditional nation-states, while companies have adopted concepts that resemble political institutions. She argued that similar language later appeared around social media and AI, where companies increasingly described their products using ideas associated with democracy and government.