They speak a cult-like language
25 October 2026 (Vanity Fair). Harvard historian Jill Lepore, interviewed by Vanity Fair in October 2026, describing the rhetoric of the AI industry.
AI Is Eroding Civil Society, Argues Harvard Historian Jill Lepore
More from Jill Lepore · AI and culture · AI and philosophy · 2026
Who else?
What it refers to: The people building and promoting artificial intelligence, who present themselves as guardians of a civilization-saving technology.
Other voices
- “Contemporary technology driven by AI has resurrected the ancient human impulse to play God” Vinay Samuel,
- “Propagating super intelligence to the stars is a great success condition for a biological bootloader” Elon Musk, Builder,
- “Can be more like a new Renaissance than a new industrial revolution” Sam Altman, Builder,
- “An invasion from the future by an artificial intelligent space” Nick Land,
- “It will orchestrate the debate, it will manipulate the debate” Yuval Noah Harari, Thinker,










