Ananya

Writer & Seminar Leader, Cosmos Institute · 2026–present

Tocqueville & AI

Essays and seminars on keeping our ability to think for ourselves.

Ananya in a blue gown in a château salon in Normandy, talking with two people in suits.
At the Cosmos Institute's America 250 event in Normandy

1The question

Tocqueville warned about "soft despotism," a power that takes away people's ability to think for themselves. What if the real danger of AI isn't that it takes our jobs, but that we hand it our decisions?

2What I built

  • Three essays applying Democracy in America to human autonomy in the age of AI.
  • A presentation at the Cosmos Institute's America 250 event in Normandy, France, to 200+ philosophers and entrepreneurs.
  • Seminars on "philosopher-builders," including recorded discussions with philosopher Jonathan Bi.

3A decision I made

I came home and kept thinking about it all summer. That became my idea of "choosing friction": some decisions deserve to be slow.

4Proof

Gen Z Has a Completely New Conception of Democracy, with Jonathan Bi · Watch on YouTube
French Aristocrat Shows Me His 15th Century Chateau, with Jonathan Bi · Watch on YouTube
Students and Jonathan Bi in armchairs around a fireplace in a wood-paneled château library.
Seminar in the château library
Rows of red chairs set out in the courtyard of a stone château with a round tower.
The château courtyard, set for the event
Ananya taking a mirror photo with two friends in suits in a château hallway.
Getting ready in Normandy