The Next Big Idea · 2026-08-20 · 94 min · 14,447 words

Can Democracy Survive the AI Revolution?

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The conversation that follows with Uval Noah Harari is among my favorites from recent years. It's Harari at his best, a soaring overview of human history that turns almost imperceptibly into a gripping argument about the world we're building right now. The questions he raises about how AI impacts our politics today are even more relevant right now than they were when we spoke in September twenty twenty four. He told me then that AI was moving much, much faster than he expected. Since then it has further accelerated.

As have Harari's warnings. At Davos this year, he said. Anything made of words will be taken over by AI. It flows.

Then AI will take over the legal system. If books How just combinations of words Then AI will take over books.

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