How lucky are we to be alive at the same time as Jill Lepore? Generations to come will marvel that anyone could think so clearly amidst such chaos. At a moment when the AI takeover feels new and strange and inevitable, Lepore shows it to be anything but. She connects dots from different eras, different stories, different technologies, even different species. The result is a profound reframe of what we really mean by 'artificial.'--Latif Nasser, co-host of Radiolab

Who's going to determine the future: the tech billionaires or the rest of us? Jill Lepore argues that there's nothing inevitable about eliminating jobs, destroying ecosystems, and arming authoritarian regimes. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State is at once dazzling in its range and totally on target.--Elizabeth Kolbert, Staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Under a White Sky

There are times when a historian is absolutely necessary for understanding the future--this is one of those times, and Jill Lepore is the perfect person for the job. A fascinating, perceptive, and completely timely account of how we got to artificial intelligence and how we might get past it.--Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun

A person can't help but feel inspired by the riveting intelligence and joyful curiosity of Jill Lepore. Knowing that there is a mind like hers in the world is a hope-inducing thing.--George Saunders, Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo

[A] powerful anti-AI treatise . . . . [A] fiery cri de coeur.
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

In this pointed rejoinder to Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), which foresaw a world in which humans were essentially superfluous, Lepore charts a long history that extends deep into the 'machine age' . . . .A deeply learned dive into the frightening visions of technocrats past and present.--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Lepore posits that individuals and institutions have the wherewithal to guide the trajectory of AI towards positive ends, but only if we understand the foundations of its development and the motivations of its developers. An ardent observer of the artificial state, Lepore traces its history through literary influences, such as science fiction and its metamorphosis from simple mechanical engineering to potentially world-destroying system reconfigurations. . . . Staggering, sobering, yet essential reading for all who want to understand the arc of this increasingly digital, online, corporate, and out-of-control world.--Booklist, starred review

Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation

Pub date: 2026-08-25

Length: 320 pages